The Ancient Art of Alchemy
by potNpaN
Summary: Jaune discovers a book six years before his venture into Beacon. In doing so, he rediscovers the lost art of Alchemy. Without the unspoken rules taught by older Alchemists however, Jaune commits Alchemy's cardinal sin: Resurrecting a human. Now all Jaune wants to do is stay at home and find a way to restore what he did wrong. Too bad Ozpin has different plans. Fullmetal cross-ish.
1. The Origin Story

**A/N: So I've never really tried to update two stories at once... So let's give this a go!**

 **Please by gentle with me, it's my first time taking on two at once /**

 **'Nyways, I will admit that these chapters will probably be shorter than** ** _As I Shout_** **, but I'll try (emphasis on try) to update this every... Thursday/Friday? Shrug.**

 **Sounds good to me ^-^**

 **Onwards!**

* * *

Jaune had found treasure.

He lifted up a dirty book out from his hole that he had dug in his backyard and admired the complex designs on the back and front of it. He had gotten a little blood on it from one of his numerous cuts from playing around too hard, but all in all, it was a good find.

He opened it up and ooh'd and ahh'd at the circles that looked so complex and beautiful under the sun.

A pair of hands snatched the book away from Jaune and he cried out in indignation.

"What's this?" Josephine Arc, the youngest sister said with wonder. Cracking open the book, she frowned.

"Why's the book have all these empty pages?" She asked as she flipped through the book. Jaune scratched his head in confusion.

"What're you talking about? Can't you see all of these diagrams and words on the page?" Jaune said.

"Aren't you a little too old to be playing make-believe Jaune?" Jaune turned around to face Ellie, the third eldest sister. Her face was lined with amusement as Jaune sputtered in anger.

"I'm not playing make-believe! There are words on the page! Why can't you see them?" He demanded.

Ellie just rolled her eyes at him. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say brat." And ruffled his hair, ignoring his loud protests.

"What is going on here?" A gravelly voice said.

"Grandpa!" Jaune hopped out of the ditch and took his book back, making Josephine cry out as it left her possession. Jaune ran up to Grandpa Rike and held open his book.

"Tell the girls that you can see the pretty circles on the pages!"

Rike's eyes widened a little. "Circles, Jaune?"

He nodded excitedly. Jaune turned the book around to read it. "What do you think it means grandpa?"

Rike stroked his beard. "I think it means that you're a very special boy Jaune." Grandpa Rike leant over to pat Jaune on the shoulder.

Jaune beamed.

* * *

Jaune had made a mistake. For the last three years Jaune had studied the book intimately. Learning the craft of Alchemy, as he learned to call it, was a hard but rewarding task. Jaune could remember Grandpa Rike cheering when he managed to transmutate a block of wood into a toy pony. He could remember when Grandpa Rike laughed when Jaune pranked his sisters by turning the ground into a mud trap.

Jaune remembered every time Grandpa Rike smiled, hugged, and cheered on Jaune when he continued to develop further on without the book, extrapolating the knowledge from the book to create his own transmutation circles and form his own theories on Alchemy.

Jaune remembered when Grandpa Rike died.

Jaune cried and cried and cried that day. His parents tried to comfort him, telling him that they were still with him, and that no matter what, Grandpa Rike was still with him in spirit.

Jaune didn't want Grandpa Rike to be with him in spirit. He wanted to grandpa to be with him in body.

With eight kids to take care of, Jaune's parents literally didn't have the opportunity for equal treatment. They were forced to thin their support across for all of their children, and hope that the eldest would take care of the young. Grandpa Rike was always there when Jaune's mom and dad weren't there. He always spent time with Jaune, and was there for every achievement.

Which was why Jaune wasn't going to let go of grandpa so easily.

He used his knowledge of Alchemy to form a theory that was so out there, Jaune wasn't sure what would happen. He knew the Laws of Equivalent Exchange by heart, and he assumed that hey, the worst thing that could happen would be that the transmutation failed.

And so Jaune gathered his materials and created his circle and tried to become God, resurrecting the dead.

What a horrible mistake that had been.

After a horrible darkness and a conversation with a disembodied voice, Jaune woke up in immense pain, groaning.

Sitting up, Jaune faced an abomination with the face of his loving Grandpa stalking up to him. Jaune's eyes dilated with terror as the abomination approached him. Jaune scrambled back.

"Stay away!" Jaune screamed hysterically, trying to backpedal back. The monster stopped moving, its chest heaving large breaths before it spoke.

"Now why would I want to do that Little J? Don't you want to give your grandpa a hug?" Jaune shivered as Rike's voice floated through the air, vibrating. This wasn't his grandpa. This was a creature of darkness. Something from out of a nightmare.

Jaune knew he had to destroy it.

* * *

Jaune's father scrambled down to the basement when he heard an enormous explosion underneath. Reaching the bottom, Noah saw his worst nightmare. His only son was on the ground, bleeding out. Beside him body parts were scattered all over the place, and Jaune was didn't have both his arms.

He had a stump where his left arm was, and when Jaune opened his eyes, the right eye was just a hole, bloody tears flowing out.

"Daddy…"

In that moment, the Arc family changed.

Noah Arc was able to bring his son to a nearby hospital, but was forced to activate Jaune's aura lest he die. After several days on touch and go critical surgery, Jaune was finally released with a new biomechanical arm, as well as a new eye. But while his body parts were replaced, a part of Jaune had died back when he tried to bring back his Grandpa.

For the next three years Jaune relentlessly studied Aura, Dust, and Alchemy. He went on to take lessons with Crocea Mors, as well as discover the hidden secrets of Alchemy, to find if there was a way to reverse the tragedy that had happened.

* * *

"No." Jaune said, before back flipping away from the reaches of a wooden blade. Noah grunted and stepped forward, turning his sweeping arc into a hard stab. Jaune raised his left arm and blocked the sword, tilting it away before counterattacking with his own practice weapon.

"Come on Jaune. You're of age, and Ozpin himself invited you." Jaune's dad was only a half step away from pleading. Jaune pursed his lips and spun his sword to transfer the weight of Noah's sword away, before thrusting at Noah's chest.

"For the fifteenth time, no. I don't want to go to some silly combat school, and I certainly don't need it. I just need to focus on my own studies and that is _it_." And with that, Jaune spun counterclockwise to sweep at Noah's neck, then spun clockwise to hit the legs once Noah blocked the first hit.

Noah pursed his lips. He really didn't want to have to do this.

"Jaune. Ozpin is inviting you there because he has a few… articles that he would like for you to have a look at while you're there as well. Something to do with your Alchemy." Jaune just grunted before slamming down at Noah's forehead with an overhead slash, which was neatly blocked.

"Why would he want me?" Jaune asked. He was only seventeen, and even after six long years of study, it seemed as if there was still so much more that he could learn.

"Well, seeing as how you are literally the only person who has _any_ knowledge of alchemy that we know of," Noah stepped forward, showing a flurry of attacks that would blind almost any other combatant. With the help of his biotech eye, Jaune was able to just barely hold his own and parry most stroke with his sword, and any that slipped past were caught by his metal forearm.

"And why do I have to be a student there to study a few journals?" Jaune asked.

Noah finally saw an opening and took no chances, kicking Jaune across the shoulder and sending him flying with a pained yelp.

"Because no one wants to show that there's someone who knows an Ancient Art like Alchemy, which could be a very dangerous tool for many people to have. We want to keep it on the down low, and you being a student there would be a very good cover." Jaune stayed quiet, and Noah desperately pressed it, hoping that Jaune was conceding. "He even says that you just have to stay until the end of the semester, then you can drop out and leave."

Jaune was getting tired of this. Sitting up, Jaune clapped his hands once and placed them on the floor, the ground rippling and long spikes sprung out in all directions around Noah.

"Alright fine, you win." Jaune murmured before standing up and heading back into the house.

"Really?" Noah asked uncertainly. Jaune rolled his eyes and just put up a thumbs up before closing the door. Noah pumped his fist in excitement before realizing that he was trapped in a pit of spikes.

"Uh, Jaune? A little help?"

* * *

Jaune looked up at the Bullhead uncertainly. He wasn't carrying much, only a duffel bag full of essentials and two changes of clothes. He wasn't planning to stay very long anyways.

 _The sooner I get on this thing, the sooner I can finish this and go back home._ Jaune thought to himself. With a groan at the stream of logic, Jaune just decided to step on and get the trip over with.

* * *

He knew this was a bad idea. He laid on the ground trying to regain his bearings. After throwing up on a very buxom teenager's shoes, Jaune was sure that the day wasn't going to get any worse. That thought was quickly banished when he heard a nearby explosion.

He pushed himself up to a sitting position to see a girl in a smoking crater, alongside a white-haired beauty that was screaming to the point that even he could hear her.

 _Ah Dust be damned_. Jaune cursed in his head. He walked over to the girl and offered her his right hand.

"Need some help there?" He said politely.

The girl looked up at the boy and tilted her head. "Aren't you the boy who threw up on the bullhead?" Jaune huffed a breath in exasperation.

"I'm not gonna live that down anytime soon am I?" He muttered quietly.

Lifting the girl up to her feet, she gave a huge smile and introduced herself.

"Hi! I'm Ruby, and this," Ruby pulled out her scythe and unfolded it to its full length. "is my baby, Crescent Rose!"

Jaune eyed the rather huge apparatus, and had an urge to say something about compensation if she wasn't a girl. "It's… a scythe." He said uncertainly. She nodded proudly.

"It's also a customizable, high impact sniper rifle!"

Jaune raised an eyebrow. Six years of reading the most convoluted texts that have ever been written allowed Jaune to quickly decipher her words.

"It's also a gun." Jaune said dryly. Ruby gave a huge thumbs up.

Jaune just shook his head in amusement.

"I'm Jaune. And this," Jaune drew out his sword, it letting out a quiet rasp as metal slid around metal. "is Crocea Mors." Ruby nodded before saying, "And what does it mechashift to?"

"Nothing." Jaune said simply. Ruby froze. "Nothing?" Jaune nodded.

"Nothing. Well, the sheath turns into a shield I guess, but I don't really use that mode very often." Jaune just shrugged. "I'm happy with what I got."

"Oh, well that's really cool! Most people have no appreciation for the classics." Ruby said simply. Jaune just smiled at her heartfelt attempt to make Crocea Mors feel better. He laughed.

"It's alright Ruby, I know it isn't the greatest weapon around. But that alright, I rely more on my Alc- I mean, I rely more on my semblance than I do my weapon." Jaune nearly slipped loose his secret, which he supposed he shouldn't do. Ruby just nodded.

"I can respect that."

Jaune turned towards the towering school.

"By the way, where're we supposed to go?" Jaune asked.

"I don't know, I was following you." Ruby said innocently. Jaune turned to face her.

Jaune sighed and pulled out a block of metal from his pocket. He slapped his hands together with the metal in between. A brief glow enveloped the chuck before fading to reveal a neat little compass.

"Woah. Was that your semblance?" Ruby said in awe. "I've never seen anything like that."

Jaune felt a rush of pride before just nodding and recalling the layout of the map he received before the trip. Orienting himself in the right direction, he grabbed Ruby's hand and led her to the orientation site.

* * *

After the short speech that the headmaster gave, Jaune and the other students set off to claim a spot of land for their sleeping bags, ready to go to sleep.

He had finally found a comfortable looking patch of land before he heard more yelling off to the side. Turning, he was met with another confrontation between Ruby and the white-haired girl. Jaune walked towards them, catching the tail-end of their conversation.

"- and we can talk about boys like tall, blond, and scraggly over there." The stuck-up sounding girl said while nodding to Jaune.

"Really?" Ruby said excitedly, making Jaune snort in laughter. That girl needs to learn a little about sarcasm.

"No." Weiss said in a very deadpan voice.

Jaune decided now was a good time to intrude in on the scene.

"I heard something about a tall, blonde, and scraggly?" Jaune asked, looking at the girl. He stuck his hand out.

"Hi. I'm Jaune. Can I know your name? After all, it'd be nice to know the person that's insulting you after all." Jaune said with a bright smile. The girl flushed a light pink, having enough grace to look a little sheepish. She grabbed his hand and shook it primly.

"Weiss Schnee." She said it expectantly, as if Jaune was supposed to know her. He just smiled and nodded politely before letting go. Jaune turned to the girl sitting in between the two of them and smiled at the book she was holding in her hand.

"Sorry, I'm pretty sure we're interrupting you. I wouldn't want to distract you from such a good read. I'm Jaune, although you probably heard me." Jaune laughed.

Blake nodded and rose an eyebrow at Jaune. "Blake. You've read it before?" She asked. Jaune nodded. He didn't have much to do at home besides study, practice, and read.

"Yeah. Lots of magic and assassins. Lots of political intrigue. Super cool powers. Fun."

Blake nodded in approval. Jaune just smiled led Ruby away, Weiss heading in a separate direction.

"I'll leave you to it then." He said.

"Thank you." Blake said quietly.

After leading Ruby away from Blake and Weiss, the blonde haired girl that accompanied her decided to speak up.

"So you're Jaune huh? I'm Yang." She said reaching out to shake his hand. Jaune returned the gesture, wincing in pain as her grip nearly bought him to his knees.

 _Should have… used my left hand_.

"Nice to… meet you." Jaune breathed out.

"Thanks for helping out Ruby! That almost makes up for throwing up on my shoes." Yang smirked at Jaune.

Jaune just rolled his eyes.

"Never going to live this down." He said.

"'Fraid not Vomit Boy." Yang said brightly.

"At least I didn't blow up part of the school." Jaune said wryly. Ruby protested loudly, saying something about 'normal knees' that both Jaune and Yang ignored.

Jaune just gave a small chuckle.

"Well it was nice meeting you both. I think I'm going to need to catch some sleep. I'll see you guys in the morning."

Yang and Ruby said their farewells and Jaune returned to his spot, only to be dismayed as another student had taken it.

 _Oh yeah._ Jaune thought dejectedly as he settled into a colder, harder patch of ground. _This is gonna be great._


	2. Moving into Beacon

**A/N: Wowza, I did** ** _not_** **realize there were going to be so many follows so quickly. Thanks! Although it feels kind of weird to see my second story grow faster than my first one… Ah well.**

 **I've got a few people who decided to review and post questions as a guest, those weirdos, so I couldn't reply to them through PM.**

 **Guest (Really? Couldn't even write a name or something so I can refer to you by? Tch. JK): You have a really good question. The fact of whether or not Jaune's alchemy is his semblance or not will be answered in a future chapter. Eventually. Ish. Probably. If I remember.**

 **:D**

 **Anyways, I'm sure none of you actually thought about** ** _that_** **, so onto the story!**

* * *

 _I am the world's foremost expert in Alchemy, I can hold my own against a fully trained Hunter, and know the deepest darkest knowledge of a forbidden tome, but I cannot for the life of me find. My. Damn. Locker._

Jaune growled silently as he slunk through the locker room, trying to find his locker room. His attention was caught by a mane of red hair next to white.

 _Maybe they could help me…_

Jaune approached them with a smile.

"Hey there Weiss." He greeted.

"Hello." Weiss said stiffly back. Jaune turned to the red-haired girl and introduced himself.

"Hi, I'm Jaune. What's your name?" He asked politely. She opened her mouth, almost in shock. Instead of her answering the question however, Weiss seemed to intrude.

"What? Don't you know who this is? Pyrrha Nikos? Top of her class in Sanctum Academy and four time winner of the Mistral regional tournament?"

Jaune laughed a little nervously. "Sorry, I didn't have much time at home for much besides reading and practicing. Is that supposed to be something big? It sounds like something big."

Weiss looked even more surprised than Pyrrha did. "She's… she's on the box of Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes!"

Jaune snapped his fingers in recognition. "Ah that's right, I do remember seeing you on that. My little sister loves that cereal." Weiss threw her hands up in defeat.

"Sorry I didn't know who you were." Jaune said guiltily, before Pyrrha waved her hands to reassure him.

"No! Please don't apologize for that. It's actually quite refreshing having someone who doesn't know who I am." She said. Jaune grinned in relief before remembering why he was there.

"Say, you wouldn't know where locker 636 is would you?" He asked.

Weiss pointed at a locker to the left of her and Jaune left with a quick thank-you before retrieving Crocea Mors.

"What a guy." Weiss grumbled. Pyrrha nodded and her eyes trailed after Jaune.

"What a guy." Pyrrha echoed.

* * *

"Well this is _not_ going to end well." Jaune observed calmly as student by student was flung from a platform towards a Grimm infested forest. Ruby grinned at him and gave him a thumbs up before taking lift off.

"Mr. Arc." The headmaster of Beacon called out to Jaune.

"After this is over, I would like to speak to you in my office." He said calmly. Jaune looked at Ozpin incredulously. "You're telling me this now?" Jaune asked. Ozpin shrugged. "It prevents time-consuming follow-up questions."

"Oh you clever—"

Ozpin didn't hear the last part of that as Jaune was flung at unbelievable speeds away from the cliff. His head turned to track Jaune's flight before taking another sip from his mug.

* * *

 _Calm down, calm down, calm down_. Jaune repeated in his mind. He thought for a way not to smash into a bloody pulp.

 _Alright Alchemy… there's nothing to transmutate._

That… was pretty much the end of Jaune's thought process at that point. With that thought in his mind, Jaune started to panic just a little and only scream a little higher than what would be acceptable for a man to scream.

 _TWACK_.

Jaune lurched to the side as a spear struck his hood, pinning him into a tree.

"Ouch."

Jaune sighed and tried to orient himself. Well, that was one way to survive a fall, Jaune mused.

He needed to get down though, so Jaune clapped his hands once and placed them on the trunk of the tree, causing the bark to shift downwards until Jaune could touch the ground.

Grasping the spear in his hand, Jaune wrenched it free from the bark and held it out to give it a closer look.

It was very sleek and elegant, with gold and red decals. A very sharp point as well, judging by the pained hiss Jaune gave as he poked the point of it. All in all it was a nifty weapon.

A loud growl ripped through the forestry in front of Jaune as glowing red eyes appeared. Jaune raised an eyebrow as a Beowulf appeared out of the thicket. Jaune gave a contemptuous huff of breath before raising the spear. Hey, if someone was willing to pin him with it, he doubted that they would mind him using it for a bit.

Of course, when another seven pair of eyes appeared around him, Jaune naturally dropped the spear, half in surprise and half in frustration.

Why doesn't anything _good_ ever happen to him?

The Beowulfs all charged at the same time, ready to tear apart the defenseless human. Heh. Jaune wanted to laugh. Jaune was never defenseless as long as he had two hands. Even if one of them was metal.

A quick clap and a thrust onto the ground later, Jaune summoned a wall that surrounded three sides of him, blocking off the flank and creating a bottleneck where only one or two Beowulfs could come at him at once.

Mindlessly, the Beowulfs did exactly that, allowing Jaune to clap once, grab his block of metal, and strike it against the metal sheath of Crocea Mors. Sparks flew out as metal hit metal and ignited the transmutated air around the two charging Beowulfs, broiling them alive. With his other hand, Jaune unsheathed Crocea Mors as well, falling into a defensive stance.

All of this lasted barely five seconds.

The rest of the fight pretty much ended the same way, with Jaune stabbing and slashing Grimm into pieces, and conjuring up whatever transmutation that would help him up when time and space allowed him to.

In a little under a minute Jaune stood in the middle of the fallen Beowulfs, watching them all dissipate into smoke.

"That was very impressive." A voice rang out. Jaune turned to see Pyrrha, who looked amazed at Jaune's feat of power.

"How long were you there?" Jaune asked, purely curious as he sheathed his sword and picked up the spear laying beneath his feet.

"A little bit before you threw up that wall. I was going to help you, but I was caught off guard when you did that." Pyrrha admitted.

"Was that your semblance?" she asked, following up on her statement.

Jaune paused for a second before answering with a nod. Pyrrha's amazement only grew even more. "That's quite a powerful semblance you have then." Jaune gave a grin. "Thanks."

He held out the spear. "I'm guessing this is yours. And I'm guessing that we're partners now." He said happily, as Pyrrha nodded and took Miló gratefully.

Jaune held out his hand and gave a smile. "Well then, let's get going partner."

* * *

"That is one hell of a Deathstalker." Jaune noted while running frantically away. Pyrrha didn't bother wasting breath, simply nodding as she spun around and fired a few rounds out of Miló at the Deathstalker.

"Don't you have anything that could take it down?" Pyrrha said hurriedly, ducking below its stinger.

"Yeah, but I need to stand still and concentrate for it, and I don't think it's going to let me do that." Jaune said before pointing to what looked like a clearing. "This way!"

Pyrrha and Jaune ran out of the clearing to see a circular ruin, accompanied by all the other students, like Yang and Blake.

And if Jaune looked up, he could see Weiss falling from her death. Sigh. What a wonderful ending to a great adventure.

Cursing under his breath, Jaune clapped his hands once and slammed onto the ground on all fours. Two rocks pushed out underneath his feet and propelled him upwards towards Weiss. With a triumphant yell, Jaune caught Weiss and grinned victoriously at her before realizing that he hadn't thought of what to do after he caught her.

And so they both fell, Weiss on top of Jaune.

"My hero." Weiss said sarcastically.

"My back." Jaune moaned out in pain.

Pyrrha crashed in front of the rest of the group as the Deathstalker came ever closer.

"I've got it!" Ruby said before charging headfirst towards the giant scorpion. A brief battle took place that literally did nothing to the Deathstalker before the Nevermore that dropped Weiss off returned, peppering the clearing with razor sharp feather-tips, pinning Ruby to the ground.

Yang was also trapped, unable to help in time with the feathers in the way.

The Deathstalker raised its tip menacingly, diving towards Ruby before Weiss stepped in and froze the stinger solid.

"You are so childish." Weiss said exasperatedly.

"Weiss?" Ruby asked tentatively.

Weiss turned to Ruby and started to talk, but Jaune was a little too far away, as well as a little too busy trying to figure out how to get out of this alive to notice the rest of the conversation.

When everyone finally regrouped together, Weiss started to speak.

"Look, there's no sense in hanging around here anymore. Our objectives are right there." She said.

Ruby nodded. "Right! There's no sense in trying to fight these things. Let's just get back and finish the mission."

Jaune agreed wholeheartedly. "Running and living. Something I can agree to."

Everyone set off, Running towards the bridge connecting the forest to the cliffs. The Nevermore screeched and followed them, while the Deathstalker broke free of its icy prison and set off towards the group as well.

Of course when they reached the bridge they ended up fighting the two Grimm anyways.

Which was a wonderful endeavor of course.

* * *

The initiation ceremony after that was pretty much a blur as the students were ushered into teams and assigned leaders and rooms.

Jaune was a little shocked and a little angry when he was made leader of his team, something he expressed quite openly to Ozpin when he visited his office.

"I can't believe you made me into a leader!" Jaune said, pacing back and forth in front of the man, who was calmly sipping coffee from his mug and watching Jaune walk.

"I think you have the potential to become something great, and I'm hoping that leading will help you find your true path." Ozpin said calmly. Jaune just glared at the headmaster.

"I'm just here for a semester." Jaune said through gritted teeth. Even with all the unexpected fun he's been having with the other students, he was very much still eager to get back home and continue with his research. Ozpin nodded in agreement.

"Even so, I believe the semester will be much more productive with you as a leader."

Jaune groaned, clearly understanding that Ozpin wasn't going to budge at the matter. Jaune pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation as he tried to calm himself down.

"What did you need for me to read anyways?" Jaune asked, just wanting to get this meeting over with. Ozpin nodded and tapped his scroll, sending a message to Professor Goodwitch.

After a brief minute, Goodwitch stepped through with several what could only be considered tomes floating next to her. Jaune's eyes boggled at the sheer amount of pages each of the _thirteen_ books had.

"This? This is what you want me to read?" Jaune asked slowly. Ozpin nodded once more.

"Yes. And for the sake of secrecy, I implore you to only take one with you at a time to decipher. And of course, try not to take them off of campus grounds."

Jaune eyed the stack of books which was nearly half as tall as he was.

"This… you want me to go through all of this in one semester?" Ozpin shook his head and quirked a tiny smile.

"No. _You_ wanted to get through this in one semester. I am quite happy to accommodate you for as long as you need it."

Jaune muttered something about 'wily bastard' and just stood up, grabbing a tome and marching out of the office, not bothering with a parting word to Ozpin.

Ozpin leaned back in his seat, quite satisfied that things were set in place perfectly.

* * *

 **A/N: I... feel like this chapter has a lot of breaks in it. But I really want to get the story 'started', you get what I mean? 'Nyways, if y'all don't like it, don't worry, I won't be using so many line breaks as this chapter... probably**

 **:D**

 **Thanks for taking the time to read this!**


	3. The First Fight

**A/N: Here's the 3rd chapter! Wheeee! Thanks for all the reviews guys ^-^ It feels great that a lot of y'all are actually thinking about the implications of having alchemy in the RWBYverse and well... hehe. It's gonna be a lot of fun exploring that.**

 **'Nyways, Onwards!**

* * *

"What do you think of bunk beds?" Nora asked excitedly, hopping from one foot to the other while looking at the other three members of her team. Three out of three team members looked incredibly dubious. They had been up for nearly an hour trying to figure out the layout of their room, but still couldn't settle on how to orient the beds.

"I… don't think that's a wise idea Nora." Ren said slowly. Jaune and Pyrrha nodded in agreement.

Who would be crazy enough to make bunk beds out of these heavy beds? Nora deflated and gave a small pout.

"Aw, you guys are no fun."

Jaune ignored the pout. Living with seven sisters did wonders for your pout-resistance, Jaune soon discovered. He had probably seen every major and minor variation of a pout that any girl could ever think of giving. Besides, he's had enough of bunk beds ever since he turned thirteen and got sick of living with three hormonal girls in the same room, _especially_ with one on top of him.

In bunk beds, he meant.

A racket was heard in the room over, as many feet pounded around out the doorway. Jaune and company poked their heads around and saw Team RWBY rushing down the hallway, Weiss screaming that they were late in panic.

Team JNPR looked at each other before toppling down on top of each other. Soon after, they gathered themselves up and ran to catch up with Team RWBY, not really caring for an absence on the first day of school.

They arrived in Professor Port's class with barely a second to spare, trying to discreetly settle into the class without too much ruckus.

Professor Port waited for everyone to get into their seat before he started to talk.

And the instant he did, Jaune started to space out. Sure he was going to class. Even if he really didn't want to be here, that didn't mean he could just skip classes willy nilly. That would just cause more trouble than it would be worth, with the detentions taking away from the time that he could be deciphering the alchemical tomes. That didn't mean he needed to be great in classes. He would just get passable grades and finish what he was really doing here.

So he took the time in this class to spread out a few blank pages, trying to create new structures and theories on alchemy, figuring out how to further his knowledge. This went on until Jaune saw a movement far to his left and front as Weiss stood up.

Jaune raised his head up to watch as Weiss stood in front of a large cage as Professor Port struck the lock off the hinges.

Immediately a boarbatusk rushed out of the cage and tried to impale Weiss. A brief flurry of blows were exchanged before Ruby shouted out her support for Weiss, which she angrily rebuked her for. Jaune rose an eyebrow and turned to see Yang look a little pissed at Weiss as well as Blake staring intently at her teammates.

Finally, Weiss was able to flip over the boarbatusk and stab it in the stomach, killing it.

As Weiss stood up, Jaune returned to his drawing of a more compact, faster-acting transmutation circle that could be used for speedy surprise transmutations. He already saw enough of that to know that Team RWBY was heading off to a bad start. But he could see a glint of understanding underneath Professor Port's bushy eyebrows as well.

They were in good care.

Probably.

Either that or be talked to death.

Jaune shrugged. It wasn't really his problem to begin with.

Classes pretty much came and went that way, coming and going in a blur as Jaune really didn't pay attention to the lectures, knowing that the first day wouldn't really have anything substantial happening.

And so the day ended without a hitch and Jaune retreated back into the room, settling onto his bed and cracking open the book that he grabbed in Ozpin's office.

 _Les Secrets de L'alchimie_

The Secrets of Alchemy, Jaune translated in his head. Apparently, the dead language of French was a frequently used language for alchemy. Jaune shook his head wistfully as he remembered the many months of struggling with his own tome trying to translate the language.

Luckily, after so many years of learning the language, it was practically his second go-to language, and Jaune was perfectly fluent in it.

A shadow loomed over the pages of L'alchimie, and Jaune rose his head to greet Pyrrha.

"Hello Jaune. I was hoping that we could maybe study together?" Pyrrha said hopefully. Jaune gave a soft smile.

"Thanks for the offer, but no thanks. I'm not really much of a study-er, and it's just the first day. I'm pretty sure it can't be too much to study." Jaune gave a little chuckle.

"Oh. Okay." Pyrrha said reluctantly before parting with Jaune. Jaune's eyes trailed back to his pages and started to continue where he left off.

* * *

The day after that was pretty light, with Jaune only taking on two other classes, with one of them being a combat class with Professor Goodwitch. So with the same strategy in mind, Jaune spaced out in his first class where a speed demon with green hair rushed around the room trying to break the sound barrier with his words. It didn't take much for Jaune to ignore him.

Jaune had actually found a sound strategy that morning of taking several pictures of the pages in L'alchimie and just reading them on his scroll. He did that throughout the whole of his first class, lunchtime, and walking towards his combat class, which was another class with both teams RWBY and JNPR in it.

He settled down next to Pyrrha, strictly out of routine and comfort than because of camaraderie. Professor Goodwitch stepped up onto the arena and started to make a speech about teamwork and fighting and yadda yadda yadda that Jaune completely ignored as he scrolled through the pages. Jaune frowned at a paragraph which explained efficacy of circles and how any other geometric shape has unintended effects.

Jaune had never thought about that before. He's always drawn circles because… well, that was what his book showed him to do. And so, being the curious scientist type that he was, Jaune pulled out a sheet of paper and drew a standard transmutation circle, but instead of a circle, he enclosed everything in a triangle. Casting a critical eye over the shape, he made sure that everything was perfect besides the triangle. Nodding to himself, he press his finger onto the center of the triangle, which caused it to glow.

And literally explode in Jaune's face.

 _Note to self: Drawing a Transmutation Circle that isn't a circle will probably cause it to explode._

Jaune calmly opened his eyes and saw Professor Goodwitch glare at him. Jaune just gave a casual smile and tried to subtly put away the ruined piece of paper. Clearing her throat, Goodwitch decided to speak.

"And seeing as how Mr. Arc has volunteered himself to fight with Mr. Winchester, we'll get started right away."

Jaune shrugged internally. He'll take a fight over a detention any day. Well, except for every third Wednesday of every other month. Heh. Jokes.

Jaune shook off his slightly manic thoughts and stood up, ignoring the concerned stares of Pyrrha and Ruby.

Goodwitch looked carefully at the two fighters, one decked out in full body armor with a huge mace that looked like it could knock Jaune into another wall three walls behind another wall, and the other… Jaune.

Jaune was literally standing in a loose stance with Crocea Mors in his right hand, the sheath dropped onto the floor, wearing nothing but a black hoodie and his ragged jeans.

"Are the two of you ready?" Glynda asked, prompting a nod from each person. "Then begin."

Instantly, Cardin sprung into action, making use of an overhead arc to try and be a hammer to Jaune's nail. Jaune's nail being his head. With the force of a train behind him, Jaune would probably be in dire straits had he been hit, even with his aura. But seeing as how the mace was so telegraphed, Jaune just took a step backwards and let the mace slam down on the ground next to his feet.

The ground then proceeded to explode, sending Jaune flying.

As Jaune skipped like a rock on a pond, Cardin continued to follow up on the attack, smirking at the defenseless Jaune.

Gasping a breath, Jaune clapped his hands once and placed them on the floor, creating a pothole that Cardin tripped on. Jaune used that time to right himself, falling into a defensive position with his sword pulled back and parallel to the ground. Cardin pulled himself up and gave a growl that was almost as effective as a newborn Ursa, charging and swinging his mace. Jaune, now wise to the effects of the mace, jumped back and tried to gain as much distance as he could from Cardin.

The explosions seemed to be pretty small, so as long as Jaune stayed out of close range combat. He would be fine, having the advantage of range with his alchemy.

But of course, Fate giggled at Jaune's cute attempts of trying to stay uninjured and flipped him off.

Cardin hefted the mace high up again, this time aiming at the ground next to him. Jaune just stood there confused as to what Cardin was doing. The ground rumbled and a large portion of it rose up, making a small outcrop next to Cardin, which he swung at like a baseball. The rock exploded into hundreds of pieces, expelled like birdshot from a shotgun towards Jaune. With no time to react, Jaune just stood there and was hit full in the chest with stones, sending him flying _again_. Jaune spat a few stones that found their way into his mouth and glowered at Cardin.

 _Alright then. No more nice guy._

Jaune rose up and clapped his hands, placing them once again on the floor. Spikes weaved out from the ground like vines, striking Cardin all over the place, making him yelp and swing wildly at the stony tentacles.

Another clap n' slap let Jaune weaken the structure of the arena floor below Cardin, causing it to cave and drop Cardin waist deep into the floor. Only then did Jaune approach Cardin casually, transmutating the hole to close around and trap Cardin. Jaune put his foot on top of the mace, making sure that Cardin couldn't lift it up. Cardin glared at Jaune hatefully, silently promising an agonizing death. Jaune reached into his pocket and pulled out his handy dandy permanent marker, leaning forward and uncapping it.

With practiced hands that have drawn perfect circles thousands of times, Jaune made short work of Cardin.

When Jaune pulled away, he burst into giggles as Cardin started to curse at Jaune heatedly. Unfortunately, it was really hard to take Cardin seriously when he had a messy monocle and mustache penned onto his face.

The whole class erupted into laughter before Goodwitch stepped in to intervene.

"Alright, alright, that's enough." She said, trying not to smile or laugh. Whipping out her riding crop, she lifted Cardin out of his hole and placed him on the floor next to it.

"Mr. Winchester. Work on your overconfidence please, and always keep an eye out for surprises that the enemy have. And Mr. Arc." Professor Goodwitch turned to see Jaune with a smirk directed at her. "I would say the same for you. Your cockiness led to some very serious blunders that, if it hadn't been for your aura, would severely harm you. Do not make the mistake of underestimating your opponent again."

Jaune frowned, put off by the fact that he won but still got a lecture, but nodded and went back to his seat as Professor Goodwitch continued to talk about aura levels and how their scrolls could show the specific amount.

Settling into his seat, he pulled out his scroll again, reading the words on the screen carefully.

Unbeknownst to him, a pair of amber eyes, sharper than the rest, was also trained on his scroll.

* * *

 **A/N: If anyone's wondering why _French_ is the language I chose... **

**Well, y'all are smart, I'm sure y'all can figure it out.**

 **:)**


	4. A Menace Appears

**A/N: Er. Yeah. Not much to say. O.o for the first time ever. I guess I'll just say to watch out next Thursday 'cause I might be posting late, maybe even early Friday. Yeah.**

 **Tired.**

 **'Nyways, onwards.**

* * *

Jaune was finally able to escape the grasp of pleasant company by making a few excuses about checking out Beacon's library. Nora made a disgusted face and dragged Ren off somewhere to have her fun while Pyrrha offered to accompany Jaune. Jaune just waved her off, saying that he preferred being alone. With another strained smile, Pyrrha waved him off and retreated into the room by herself.

Arriving at the library with _L'alchimie_ in tow, Jaune plopped down in a seat and cracked it open, resuming the chapter on the exchange of heat and electricity. Jaune transposed the book onto a handbook that Jaune carries with him at all times. He drew out a few diagrams and some brief concise notes about the theory of equivalent exchange concerning thermodynamics. Of course, as an experienced Alchemist, Jaune made sure that his notes were hidden in a cipher. He continued to do this until he heard a rustling to his left, which caused him to turn.

Blake stood there with a book in her hand, her eyes watching Jaune carefully. Jaune gave a small smile and casually closed his handbook.

"Hello Blake." Jaune said. "To what pleasure do I owe this company?" Blake smirked and held up her book. "Just checking out a book to read. You seem to have quite the read as well." She said, gesturing to the tome by his side. "What's it about?"

Jaune gave a smile. "Just something I've been interested in for a while." Jaune gestured at the book in Blake's hand. "So you're a pretty avid reader, huh? Anything you could recommend to me?"

Blake seemed to pause at the sudden change of topic before answering. "Well, there's a book about this detective who uses magic. I think you'd enjoy his sense of humor…" They continued to converse before a zooming brunette popped up beside them.

"Jaune! Blake! There you guys are!" The two of them glanced over at each other in amusement. "Yeah. Did you need something Ruby?" Jaune asked politely. Ruby gave them both a stunning smile and grabbed both of their hands.

"Yes! We're having a get together. Come on!" Ruby said, dragging them both to their feet. Jaune chuckled and picked up the pace, shaking off her hand. "Alright Ruby. Lead the way. Let me just grab my stuff alright?"

Jaune turned to grab _L'alchimie_ and his handbook before he was stopped by a huge armored chest. Looking up at Cardin's eyes, Jaune rose an eyebrow.

"Excuse me."

Cardin's scowl deepened before he leaned over and grabbed Jaune's two books.

"What's this? The nerd's reading some book in another language. Is this stuff important to you, Jauney boy?" Cardin sneered as he shook the books back and forth in Jaune's face. Jaune's face stilled, his posture completely relaxed.

"Yes. Those are a little important to me." Jaune said calmly, holding out his hands. "I'd like to have them back."

Cardin kept his face in that ugly sneer, giving a nasty laugh. "I don't think so Jauney boy. You see, you didn't really put your best foot forward when we were having that friendly spar, now did you?"

Jaune kept his eyes on Cardin before bursting out into laughter, causing Cardin to step back in surprise.

"Oh Dust, I'm sorry, I just can't take you seriously with that silly monocle and mustache." Jaune said in between chuckles. Cardin's face morphed into something uglier, with a hint of restrained rage in his eyes.

"Well, it seems you get a laugh when things get drawn on. Maybe I should see how funny it is when your books get a little more worn out?" Cardin threatened.

Jaune stopped laughing instantly. His lips pursed into a thin line and he straightened his back, hands held loosely to the side.

"I don't think you want to do that." Jaune said quietly. Cardin looked victorious, knowing that he scored a point against Jaune. "Oh?" Cardin said mockingly, "And what're you going to do about it?"

Jaune stepped forward, ready to unleash ten times as much fury as he had during that spar before a quick form sped past him, grabbing the two books right out of Cardin's hands. Cardin blindly reacted, lashing out his hands to try and smack the shadow, which dissipated as Blake back flipped back beside Jaune. She glowered at Cardin before handing the books to Jaune.

"You shouldn't be threatening to deface books. That's a little low for even you, Cardin." Blake said quietly. Jaune's lips quirked a little. A real book-lover indeed.

"Yeah, I didn't realize you could stoop so low Cardin." Cardin looked between the two of them, seeing an impassive wall. Smartly, Cardin decided just snarl at the two of them and stalked off, pride wounded enough to back down. Jaune huffed at Cardin and crossed his arms.

"Honestly, I swear that armor's just for show." Jaune muttered before turning to Blake, thanking her. Blake gave a small smile.

"Don't worry about it Jaune. I won't stand anyone trying to destroy books. Even if I don't know what the book is about." She said, subtly trying to get Jaune to tell her what the books were about. Jaune paused in thought before sighing internally. Blake did deserve something for rescuing his books.

"They're about a forgotten art. Something interesting that I've been enjoying uncovering is all." Jaune said.

Blake nodded, her eyes narrowing. "Like alchemy." Jaune's eyes widened, imperceptible to most humans, before his face gathered into a mask again and he nodded. "Like alchemy." Jaune agreed.

This was strange. Alchemy was such an old subject that many people would have no idea what Jaune was talking about when he said the name. It was… very uncommon to find someone that even knew Alchemy existed.

"How did you—" Jaune started before Ruby's scroll beeped rapidly, alerting all three of them. Jaune mentally slapped himself, completely forgetting about Ruby, who opened up the scroll.

"Oh, we're going to be late! Come on guys!" Ruby again grabbed their wrists and dragged them away.

## #

"—And that's when everything exploded, and Ren and I flew out on the back of a Nevermore, ready to sell our stash of gold that we stole from the bandits." Nora declared happily before falling back into her seat.

Ren shrugged. "There wasn't a stash of gold. But everything else is pretty much true." He admitted, Nora's story for once almost completely aligning up to the truth. Yang burst into laughter.

"Wait, even when you got held hostage—and the ice cream cone and the Ursa—and, and the crotch kick?" Ren nodded and Yang held her stomach in laughter.

Team RWBY and JNPR were hanging out on Beacon's rooftop, enjoying each other's company and eating snacks that Yang and Nora stole from the kitchens.

Pyrrha was conversing with Weiss and Ruby, smiling serenely. Yang, Ren, and Nora were wildly telling stories, comparing each other's stories to see who would top the other. Well, Yang and Nora were doing that, while Ren was trying to reign them both in.

Blake sat a little to the side and was reading a book, content that no one was bothering her. Jaune was the exact same, except a little closer to the railings on the edge of the roof than she was.

Blake turned her attention to Jaune in thought.

The Ancient Art of Alchemy. Something that was dangerous enough to be buried away from the masses, where everyone was happy to let the information fade in time. It was something that the White Fang was introduced to just a little before Blake left them. She knew it was dangerous, and Jaune was looking into that?

Was he part of the White Fang? Blake scanned his body, trying to see if there was anything that would give away if Jaune was a faunus or not. Did any humans have knowledge in this? Blake needed to know what Jaune knows, to make sure that he wasn't a spy, or worse.

Picking herself up slowly and marking the page she was on, Blake walked over to Jaune.

Jaune was in the middle of drawing an increasingly complex circle when he heard footsteps approach him. Eyes meeting Blake again, Jaune gave a wave and shut both his books. Blake greeted him back, noting that Jaune had hidden the books he was reading once again, and gestured to the spot next to him, silently asking permission to let her take a seat. Jaune nodded and shifted to the side a little, letting her take a seat.

An awkward silence held out while the two of them tried to figure out what to say to the other.

"So. I uh, know that I already said this, but thank you again. These are really important to me." Jaune said lamely. Blake just nodded. "I can see that," She said in amusement. "seeing as how you haven't let them go after I took them from Cardin. I mean, I thought I loved books." Blake said in an attempt to joke, with had Jaune chuckling.

Jaune's eyes darted up to Blake's bow, still trying to figure out how Blake knew about alchemy. Who else knew about it? Jaune could count on his one hand how many people he's talked with that knew about alchemy. One.

Juane gave up trying to figure this out by himself and just decided to ask Blake.

"So how do you know about alchemy?" Jaune asked out of the blue. Blake's bow seemed to twitch at the mention of the word before Blake looked at Jaune carefully, trying to figure out if it was just curiosity speaking or if Jaune had an ulterior motive.

"I… heard about it. From someone." Blake said vaguely. Jaune nodded though, understanding that alchemy, to those who know it, was a bit of a sensitive subject, guarded jealously. To those who learned the way of alchemy, they were ruled by one saying.

Knowledge was power.

"So do you… know any? Alchemy I mean." Jaune asked again. He needed see what Blake knew about the subject, and if Jaune would have to downplay his 'semblance' when he was around her.

Blake was able to freely give out that information, seeing as how that wouldn't really paint her as a faunus in any way, nor related to the White Fang. "I've just heard about it. And besides, I thought it was a lost art?" Blake said, recalling Jaune's words from earlier today.

Jaune nodded and smiled. "You're right, but you never know." Jaune laughed.

 _After all, I was able to learn it. Who knows who else could do the same as well?_

So Blake wasn't an Alchemist. Judging from the way that she answered the question, Jaune had a good approximation that Blake didn't know enough about Alchemy to actually recognize that his semblance wasn't really just a semblance.

But she was hiding something. Blake had the same guarded look that Jaune always had when he tried to figure out if the person next to him was trustworthy or not. Jaune knew that he shouldn't pry anymore now that he knew Blake wouldn't be able to expose him, but he couldn't help himself.

Blake on the other hand, wasn't going anywhere fast. She still wasn't sure if Jaune knew anything about the White Fang, and if Jaune would be able to expose her or not. Blake had a feeling that Jaune was hiding something major, probably something that related to the ancient art. While Jaune didn't need to follow up on his questioning, Blake needed to.

"Jaune." Blake said, catching Jaune's attention. "How do you feel… about faunus?"

Jaune was caught off guard with the question, something that put Blake's fears a little more at rest. If he had known about the White Fang, the question wouldn't have surprised him as much as it should have.

"Faunus?" Jaune asked before tapping his chin reflectively. "I don't know. I guess I don't really feel much for them. They're not much different from humans, so I guess the way they're treated is unfair. It's not like they're monsters or anything."

Not like what Jaune had done. After his brief encounter with what could barely be considered human, faunus were as different from humans as daisies were to roses to Jaune. They were still people. There were good and there were bad, but as a whole, they were neutral. Blake could grasp what he was trying to say, and was interested in his point of view. He seemed not to care much about the issue at hand, but knew that the treatment of faunus was unfair. That was pretty much the outlook of many people nowadays. If he had known the White Fang, his opinion would have probably been a little more extreme, either in a good way or a bad way.

"What about… the White Fang?" Blake asked uncertainly, knowing that if Jaune had his suspicions about her already Blake would be painting a target for him with that question. Again Jaune thought briefly about the question before looking a little sheepish.

"Sorry Blake, but what's the White Fang?" He asked. "I kind of lived a secluded life before I came to Beacon." Jaune explained. That put Blake's fear completely to rest. Blake had been watching closely for lies, and after seeing none, Blake decided that she could trust him.

Well, trust him as much as she trusted her other teammates.

"They're a pro-faunus group." Blake said shortly.

"Oh. Well that's pretty good then," Jaune said, smiling.

"Hardly." A voice said. Blue and amber eyes swung to meet Weiss, who had a cross glare aimed at the both of them. Jaune looked confused at the interruption.

"Excuse me?" Blake said irritably. Weiss kept the glare and continued talking.

"The White Fang are a bunch of degenerates aimed at causing wanton destruction to innocent people and property. They are terrorists." If Weiss wasn't a prim and proper lady, she probably would have spat the last sentence out. Even without it though, Jaune and Blake could see the disdain Weiss held for the White Fang. Blake's eyes narrowed.

"Innocent? Like the your family, who decides to force faunus into mining jobs that pay little to nothing and let them live in terrible conditions?" Blake scoffed at the thought. "Hardly innocent."

Weiss crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Oh please. That's an exaggeration. The faunus that are there stay there for a reason. If they simply wanted to, they could leave and find other jobs."

"Where would they go? Who would take them?" Blake tossed her arms up in exasperation and anger. "They're staying there because there isn't anything else to go to!"

"Well then maybe they should be grateful for what they have and not needlessly demanding for more!" At this point, all other conversation stopped, both teams watching the shouting match between Weiss and Blake.

"Needlessly?" Blake laughed cruelly. "They're demanding things that should be given to any other human freely! Breaks! Habitable living spaces! A wage that could support a grown human!"

"And how would you know any of this?" Weiss screamed at Blake. "You haven't been there! Why do you care? Huh?"

Blake glared at Weiss before whispering, "Because no one else seems to." Before Blake stood up and walked out. Silence followed her departure as everyone watched Weiss.

"What are you guys looking at?" Weiss snapped before following Blake, and leaving the rooftop.

"Well I guess the party's over." Nora said awkwardly before Ren shushed her. Ruby was casting worried glances at the door before she followed, probably to talk to her partner. Yang did the same, either to support Ruby or help Blake, Jaune wasn't sure.

Jaune knew that none of this wasn't really his problem. Except he was the one who made Blake explain the White Fang to him. But he didn't understand why Blake was so defensive about them. Surely, even if they were doing things for equality, blowing up places and hurting innocents couldn't be something that Blake would condone? And why would Blake care about it so much? Why would she unless—

The bow. Her defensive and secretive nature. Jaune was finally piecing everything together. Picking himself up, he went out to try and find Blake.

* * *

It didn't take more than a few minutes before Jaune found Blake hiding in the library, head in a book.

Yang was walking out of the library, passing Jaune.

"Good luck." She muttered before leaving him alone with Blake.

Jaune stood there, waiting for Blake to make the first move. She flipped to the next page in her book before she decided to say anything.

"I need some time alone, Jaune." Blake said quietly. Jaune nodded, leaning against the desk. "Can I ask you a question before I go?" Blake nodded slightly, eager to for him to leave. Another second went by as Jaune tried to figure out the right way to say it.

"Why're you hiding that you're a faunus Blake?"

All of a sudden, cold metal touched Jaune's neck, causing him to freeze in panic. Blake held Gambol Shroud up to his neck, her eyes cold with anger… and a little bit of fear.

"How did you know?" Blake seethed, looking as if she was ready to take off Jaune's head regardless of his answer. Jaune raised his hands in surrender.

"Whoa, hey! Let's not take out our pointy things just yet alright? I just pieced it all together! Honest!" Blake growled and her stomach dropped to her feet. Was it that easy to figure out? Did she just inadvertently tell everyone her secret? Jaune could see her thought process and tried to find the words to reassure her. Mostly because the metal pressed against his neck was really close to an artery and Jaune was kind of afraid to swallow. Or breathe a little too hard.

"Look, I only put it all together because we're kind of alike." Jaune said, looking a little more serious. "We're both hiding something."

Blake raised an eyebrow in question. She slowly lifted her blade so that it wasn't touching his neck anymore, instead just a few centimeters away from Jaune's Adam's apple. Jaune didn't move, not sure if Blake was going to let him.

"Look, I know what it's like keeping a secret. I don't know why you don't want everyone to know that you're a faunus, but I promise you that I won't tell anyone." Blake kept her eyes trained on Jaune.

Part of her wanted to find a way to silence Jaune, either with threats or bribery… or something more extreme. Blake's hands almost shook with the thought of killing Jaune. But there was another part of her. A more emotional and vocal part of her that told her to put down the weapon and… just trust him. Her emotions warred against each other, trying to find a solution.

Finally Blake gave a soft sigh and lowered Gambol Shroud.

Jaune was able to let his shoulders fall a little, his hands going back to his side, although he made special care to show that they were open and he wasn't going to fight her. Blake sheathed Gambol Shroud and cast her eyes to the ground.

"Sorry." Blake murmured. Jaune gave a nervous smile. "Don't worry about it. I would've probably done the same." Not exactly, but those were probably the right words to say at the moment.

Everything went quiet again as Jaune and Blake stood there together, neither looking at each other, neither really sure what to say. Jaune was about to excuse himself before Blake decided to speak out.

"I—it's true that I'm a faunus." Blake rubbed her arm, looking everything like a bashful schoolgirl instead of a weapon toting warrior. Jaune nodded, not really wanting to say anything lest she gets scared off. She drew in a shaky breath and reached up to her bow, pulling it softly to reveal a pair of cat ears. Jaune's eyes widened as he made sure to control his reactions before he squealed at how adorable those ears were. Because he was a man. And men don't squeal.

Right.

Clearing his head, Jaune tried to keep his mind on track.

"Why're you hiding it though? I mean, it's not like Beacon discriminates between students. I mean, I guess I'd understand it if you're trying to avoid being bullied, but I think you could pretty much handle anything someone like, I don't know, Cardin would dish out—"

"It's not that." Blake interrupted Jaune's ramble. Jaune winced, knowing that when he got nervous his calm mask tends to slip. Blake paused in amusement at seeing someone who usually was so collected look like a bumbling wreck. It made her wonder what had happened to turn that boy into someone like Jaune. She shook away the thoughts as she continued.

"I… I used to be in protests rallies. And I took part in the more… fanatical parts of equality fighting." When Jaune didn't show any understanding to what she was saying, Blake continued, "I—I used to be in the White Fang." Blake finally said, getting to the point. "I left after they started to go to even further with their protests… hurting people." She still wasn't looking at Jaune, not wanting to see his look of horror or disgust.

Which was why Blake didn't see Jaune after what he said next.

"So?"

Blake's ears twitched in surprise as she rose to look at Jaune, who genuinely looked confused. Blake stopped uncertainly, not sure if Jaune actually understood what she was saying.

"It doesn't matter what you were before. You said you left didn't you?" Jaune asked. Blake nodded.

"Then it doesn't matter. If you saw the White Fang trying to hurt someone, would you stop them?" Jaune asked.

"Of course." Blake said. The White Fang might be fighting for their rights, but Blake wasn't going to let them kill for it. Jaune just nodded, patting Blake on the shoulder.

"Then it doesn't matter. You're different now. And that's all that matters."

Blake still looked uncertain. Jaune sighed, not sure what he was going to do next was a smart idea. He wasn't sure why he was trusting someone he's only known for a few days.

But he did.

"Look. I know you're probably still doubting me." Jaune ran his fingers through his hair, trying not to think too hard about his decision. "I can understand you keeping a secret." Jaune sighed, still struggling to find the right words.

"I know alchemy." Jaune finally said, causing Blake to flick her eyes to meet his.

"I know how to use alchemy too. And I need to keep it a secret because it's—"

"Dangerous." Blake said quietly, finishing Jaune's sentence. Jaune nodded.

Blake was smart. It didn't take her long to piece what he was saying and what he's implying together. Alchemy was supposed to be a lost art, and rumored to be more dangerous than Dust. It also didn't use any Dust, and supposedly had power that was beyond the modern world's imagination.

It was also incredibly dangerous to the reckless. Blake remembered some of the stories that the White Fang would talk about, the horrors that alchemy would wreak and how it could potentially upset the fragile balance of power that Remnant had.

All of this, Jaune probably knew, and was telling to Blake. He was trusting her with something incredible. If anyone knew that Jaune had this kind of… this kind of _knowledge_ , people with the right resources and wrong motivations would hunt him down to the ends of Remnant. Blake knew what Jaune was handing to her right now.

Power.

Power over Jaune, and the kind of power that would potentially upset the whole of Remnant if she revealed it, changing thousands of lives forever.

Jaune was handing her trust.

Trust that she would keep his secret like he would keep hers.

Blake curled her lips into a smile at the heartfelt offering.

"Thank you. For trusting me." Blake said quietly. Jaune rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah. Figured I owed you."

Blake shook her head. "You didn't owe me anything. You could have kept that secret over my head and did whatever you wanted with me." Jaune blushed at the implications of her sentence.

"Well, I wouldn't have done that. And I don't mind telling you. Friends need to trust each other." Jaune said softly.

"Besides, I have a feeling that if I tried something like that I'd end up waking to a slit throat or something." Jaune said jokingly, trying to lighten the mood. "Probably," Blake nodded and smirked a little to show that she was joking.

Both of them grinned at each other.

"I should probably get going." Blake said, glancing at her scroll to see a message from Weiss wanting to talk. Jaune nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. It's getting late. I'll see you tomorrow." Jaune said.

Blake nodded, retying her bow. She still needed to speak to Jaune about the White Fang and their forays into alchemy, but that can wait until tomorrow.

She had more important things to do tonight.

Jaune watched as Blake left. He felt… good. Jaune came to Beacon reluctantly and wanting to leave as soon as possible. Maybe… maybe it wouldn't hurt to have some friends as well. It's not like he would have to abandon them after he left right?

Right.

"Well, well, well." A voice that sounded like irritation reached Jaune, making him stiffen.

Cardin stepped towards Jaune with a smug looking grin.

"Alchemy huh? I'll admit, I'm not sure what that is." Cardin shrugged. "But I wonder what would happen if I told everyone about it?" Jaune glared at Cardin. Killing him would be easy. But…

"What do you want Cardin?" Jaune sighed, knowing that for now, Cardin had the upper hand. Cardin knew this as well, sneering at Jaune.

"Not so cocky now, are you? Oh Jauney boy, I think we're going to be great friends." Cardin said, slinging his arm around Jaune.

* * *

 **A/N: D:**

 **Le gasp!**

 **Oh! and French because Nicholas Flamel. Look him up. He's cool.**


	5. Friends and Friction

**A/N: Haha, told you this would be** **late Thursday! :D**

 **On that note, holy hell, I'm so surprised about the reception of last chapter. I didn't realize that so many of you _hated_ Jaune getting blackmailed by Cardin, and that some of you think I'm railroading the story...**

 **Well, you aren't 100% wrong. :D**

 **But guuuuyz, trust me, I haz good plan. Unfortunately, this chapter will be more railroading... as well as some not railroading. ^-^ I hope y'all enjoy.**

 **'Nyways, Onwards!**

* * *

Jaune winced at how loudly the door seemed to sound when it was two in the morning. Jaune hoped that he didn't wake anyone up.

He didn't, but that was because they were already awake, waiting for Jaune to come back into their room. The three of them, even Nora, looked stern, as well as concerned as to why Jaune was coming back to their room so late. Jaune tried to play it cool and ignore them, shuffling to the side to place Crocea Mors away.

"You guys don't have to wait up for me you know." Jaune muttered. Pyrrha's arms were crossed and her lips were pursed in a thin line.

"Yes, but we need to. After all, it is the team that you are affecting with you staying out late with… with Cardin." She said. Jaune didn't bother reacting to the subtle jab and took out his sleepwear, a pair of shorts and a white undershirt. Jaune shrugged.

"It's not like I'm doing worse in any of my classes or anything."

"Well that's because you don't have the best grades in the first place…." Nora said, trailing off. Jaune smirked at her.

"Exactly."

Ren shook his head, his bangs swaying with the motion.

"Jaune, we are just concerned about you. If you could tell us what you're doing when you leave, or why you've been spending time with Cardin, our fears would be laid to rest." It was a logically sound argument that trapped Jaune into a spot. Either he told the team what he was doing, or he didn't and they would fear the worse. Jaune sighed and rubbed his neck, trying to find a way to allay their fears while not just outright lying to them. Jaune's grandfather had always taught him that lying to your friends was a big no-no. And they weren't his enemies, and much too close to be just acquaintances.

So Jaune guessed that they were his friends.

"Relax guys." Jaune said, holding out his hands. "I've just been helping out Cardin with some things is all."

"What type of things?" Pyrrha asked, still not moving away from her stern position. Jaune thought back. After Cardin had found the appropriate blackmail for Jaune, he decided to… make Jaune do menial tasks? Doing his homework for him, carrying all his stuff back and forth, buying him lunch, finding a bunch of rapier wasps and putting them in a box for him.

One of these things is not like the other…

It really didn't matter to Jaune though. He didn't mind suffering through all of this if it meant keeping his secret safe. If only Jaune could catch Cardin out alone sometime…

Things would end up very differently.

"Oh you know. Just harmless things." Jaune said weakly.

"Oh really? I didn't realize that the Cardin who bullies so many people and is an indiscreet faunus-phobe would need your help doing something harmless…" Nora tilted her head to the side in thought. "Are you sure we're talking about the same guy here?"

Jaune winced at the blunt, but apt, description of Cardin.

"Look guys, I appreciate the concern, but it's really alright. Cardin's not hurting anybody, and as long as he's focused on me he can't really aim that uh, energy towards anyone else." That didn't seem to relieve their worries at all, as Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha just looked at each other.

"Look, Jaune," Pyrrha started, "I know you can take care of yourself. And it seems as if you're a very individualistic person. And… well…" Pyrrha looked at the other two teammates to try and find the right way to say this.

"We think that you're not acting like a team leader." Ren said finally, rescuing Pyrrha out of the awkward silence. Jaune didn't talk for a second, rolling the thought over and over again in his head.

Why should he care if he wasn't a good team leader? He wasn't going to be here any longer than he needed to be, and the moment he left someone more willing and able would take his place. Honestly, this should make him overjoyed. Now he could just admit it and give the position over to Pyrrha or Ren or No- or Ren. But it didn't make him feel overjoyed.

It made him feel hurt.

Jaune frowned at the tight feeling in his chest and shook his head slowly. Ren continued to talk.

"You don't… seem to be actively trying to talk to us, nor do you attempt to find ways for us to interact with each other. Honestly, the only thing that you do when you aren't in class is read those books of yours. Maybe—"

"I get it." Jaune said, cutting off Ren. They both fell silent as Jaune took a deep breath in. He knew he wasn't being a good leader or friend. He knew that. He did it on purpose didn't he?

Then why did it hurt so much when they looked at him with those accusing eyes?

Jaune stood up abruptly, heading towards the door.

"I need some air." Jaune said quietly.

"Wait, Jaune—" Pyrrha spoke out before recoiling at the slammed door. The three of them looked back at each other, not sure they really achieved anything.

"Well, that went well." Ren said.

* * *

Jaune leaned against the railing that lined the rooftop of Beacon, sighing. This was the first time in a long time that he's been out and about with so many people of the same age as he was. One would say that past his polite but snarky exterior he was all left feet and usually, both of them were in his mouth.

He pulled off his left glove and stared at the steel prosthetic. His hand gleamed dully in the night light, reflected off of the broken moon of Remnant. Jaune rotated the arm around, wincing at the dull ache where his shoulder and automail met. Taking off his shirt, Jaune shivered momentarily at the brisk wind before taking off the arm and resting it across his legs. Jaune sighed in relief as the tight feeling around his shoulder loosened up.

Jaune stayed like that for a while, relishing the fact that he didn't have to worry about other people and their judgment for a little longer.

Jaune heard some shifting as someone entered the rooftop.

"I thought I might see you here." Blake said softly. Jaune snorted in amusement.

"What brings you here?" Jaune asked. He didn't bother putting his arm back, knowing that it would just show that he wasn't comfortable with it.

He'd been comfortable with the prosthetic for two years now.

"Your team came over to our room after you left. Apparently they're frustrated that you won't open up to them." Blake said calmly. Jaune leaned his head against the rails.

"It's not like anyone really asks them to do it. It's not like I need to know them to lead them." Jaune retorted. Blake's bow twitched as she smirked.

"Actually I think you kind of do."

Jaune just waved it away with his right hand. "I won't be leading them for long anyways. After I finish all of my transposing for Ozpin I'm going home." Blake blinked.

"But wouldn't you rather do this with friends?" Jaune raised an eyebrow.

"This is coming from the girl who would rather retreat into a book than play with your team?"

Blake rolled her eyes. "Yes, sometimes I need my space. But I always appreciate the fact that they offer me the opportunity, and welcome me when I join." Her voice, still soft, took on a persuasive tone. "It wouldn't hurt to have friends like that."

Jaune pursed his lips and shrugged carelessly. "So, what? I be friends with them for a few months then never talk to them again?" Jaune scoffed derisively. "Yeah, I think I'd rather spare them the betrayal."

Blake stepped forward.

"Is it really though?"

Jaune raised an eyebrow. "What?" Blake repeated her question.

"Is it really just to stop them from getting their feelings hurt? Or are you just running away from everything that seems a little difficult? Because that's what it sounds like to me." Blake said.

Jaune stared at her.

"I'll do that when you take off your bow in front of your team." Jaune said back. Blake froze, her expression hurt. But Jaune was right. What right did she have telling Jaune that he was a coward when she was the same way? Her eyes cast downwards and Jaune, not for the first time, felt like a complete ass.

"Maybe we can both stop running then." Blake said, causing Jaune to shift in surprise. "Maybe… maybe we just need someone to trust."

A moment of silence passed as Jaune stared at his metal left arm, laying on his lap like a dead fish. Was there really a problem with trusting someone? Why shouldn't he? What could be the worst that could happen if Jaune put his trust and respect towards someone again?

Well.

They could end up like his grandfather.

Jaune shook his head softly, casting away those dreary thoughts. Blake on the other hand, was waiting for Jaune to say anything, to see if he would finally accept the outstretched hand that was being offered.

"I trust you." Jaune whispered. Blake's ears under her bow perked up, picking up what he said. She smiled softly.

"And I, you." Blake said back. Jaune looked at Blake's smile, and couldn't help but give a small, but hopeful smile back.

 _Do I really need to be alone?_

Maybe Jaune didn't. Maybe he could make friends again and put his trust in others. Maybe he could start with Blake.

Jaune breathed out, this time in relief. "Let's… talk about something different now." Blake laughed, conceding to Jaune's point. They didn't need to push each other any more than was necessary.

"What do you want to talk about?" Blake asked, happy to have a conversation with the ever so elusive Jaune. She settled down on the other side of him, crossing her legs and finding a comfortable spot for their talk. Jaune looked thoughtful, tapping his chin before snapping his fingers.

"Are you planning on hiding your ears from your teammates forever?" Jaune asked. Blake paused. She thought about her answer carefully, drawing from her past, as well as her interactions with her team. Ruby and Yang, Blake was pretty sure they would accept her, but…

"This is probably about Weiss isn't it?" Jaune asked before Blake could say anything. She nodded, getting Jaune to do the same.

"I think you should tell them." He said, causing Blake to raise both eyebrows in surprise. Jaune continued to press on his point.

"I think they trust you right now. And if they figure it out from someone else you could lose all of that. Maybe just think about it?" Jaune asked. Blake kept her eyes on him, making him a little nervous.

"Or you know, don't. It's not really my place to say—"

"Okay." Blake said. Jaune stopped talking. "Okay?" He echoed. Blake nodded and didn't say anything else.

"Oh. Well. That's good." Jaune finished lamely.

"But if I do, maybe you could do the same." Blake said, staring intently at Jaune. Jaune gave a confused chuckle.

"What, tell my team that you're a faunus? I don't know, I don't think it's my place to say—" Jaune stopped when Blake rested a hand on his hand.

"You know what I mean Jaune." Blake reached up and loosened her bow, revealing her cat ears. "I think you should talk to your teammates about your knowledge of alchemy. It might help prepare them."

"For when I leave?" Jaune asked. Blake hesitated, thinking of the White Fang again.

"For… for the future."

Jaune raised an eyebrow at the ominous tone of voice, but pushed it aside, assuming that Blake was just talking about something else. He turned his palm over and grasped her fingers softly.

"Alright." Jaune said. Blake nodded, glad she got the point across. Jaune glanced up past Blake's eyes and towards her ears, which were moving sporadically, twitching this way and that cutely. Jaune's fingers rose towards her ears slowly.

"Can I?" Jaune asked hopefully. Blake froze for a moment before relaxing again and leaning her head forward before smirking and pointing to his shoulder.

"Can I?" She asked back. Jaune swallowed nervously. No one had ever touched his shoulder socket except his eldest sister, who was the one who installed the automail. It seemed intimate to him but…

Jaune nodded and Blake's fingers touched his shoulder socket while Jaune's fingers made contact with her ears.

Jaune was assaulted by the feeling of the soft and furry ears, like a fluffy carpet that you couldn't help but sink your toes in. The insides were smooth where the hair wasn't, and the skin was like silk. Along with that sensation came the sensation of prickling near his shoulder where Blake's fingers trailed. As she moved her fingers along the point where skin met metal, where her cool fingers went from the cold automail to the warm skin on his shoulder, Jaune could feel tiny pinpricks tingling along his skin, though not in an unpleasant manner. As she continued to do so, Jaune couldn't help but relax against the touch, shoulders dropping and tension oozing out of him.

Over on Blake's side was the same feeling as Jaune continued to touch and rub her ears, something that was a little more intimate to faunus than she was going to admit out loud. The feeling of having someone rub your ears could go either way, being either a frighteningly uncomfortable feeling or an incredibly relaxing one. Blake trusted Jaune. Without conscious thought Blake leaned forward a little more, rubbing her head against his hand. A purr crept out of her throat as she continued to relax under his touch while she continued to explore the surface of Jaune's automail shoulder socket. The coolness of the automail was an interesting feeling, and towards the end Blake could feel distinct movements under the metal, as if the metal was constantly shifting like real muscle and blood.

They stayed like that for a while, exploring each other's secrets thoroughly with mutual trust.

It didn't take much longer for both of them to droop in exhaustion as the Beacon's clocks struck three, their hands (or in Jaune's case, hand) dropping and their heads falling, Blake's resting on Jaune's right shoulder before Jaune rested his head on hers, both of them out like a light.

* * *

 **A/N: Yaaaaaaaaaay Fluff!**


	6. Not so Friendly

**A/N: Wow, a little later than usual, but... still on Thursday. Hope everyone who doesn't like Cardin blackmailing will enjoy this chapter ^-^**

 **'Nyways, Onwards!**

* * *

Jaune wheezed a breath out as he dropped the last few jars of tree sap at the feet of Cardin. The four members of CRDL laughed at the poor Jaune, who was pretty sure that he was allergic to the sap.

Cardin walked over to Jaune and patted him roughly on the back, causing Jaune to stumble a bit and wince in pain.

"Thanks for getting all of that for us Jauney boy!" Cardin said, leaning over to pick one of the jars up. He held it to the light to examine the sap and continued to talk.

"Now, you may be wondering why we got you to get _seven_ jars of sap, while there are only _five_ of us." Cardin said, trying to build up suspense. Jaune looked Cardin straight in the eyes.

"Not really." Jaune deadpanned. Cardin felt a brief wave of annoyance at how lackadaisical Jaune's tone of voice was, but cleared the emotion with the thought of what was going to occur.

"Well, even so Jauney boy. Come with us." Cardin said, leading Jaune back to the main group of students.

Cardin gestured Jaune to kneel down next to some bushes, Cardin himself laying down as well. Jaune tiredly settled next to Cardin, making sure that he wasn't too close in hopes of not getting infected with Cardin's assholeness.

Cardin parted the bushes slightly to reveal both Jaune's team as well as Ruby's. Jaune was starting to piece together what Cardin might have planned, and he wasn't sure he liked where this was going.

"What're you going to do Cardin?" Jaune asked quietly. Cardin chuckled maliciously.

"Payback."

Cardin snapped his fingers at Dove, who pulled out the box of Rapier Wasps that Jaune had collected the other day. Cardin turned back to Jaune with a grin and pointed to Pyrrha and Blake.

"You see those two girls there? I want you to throw the sap at them." Cardin said simply. Jaune raised an eyebrow at the command.

"Why? I mean, they haven't really done anything to deserve this." Jaune said. Cardin scowled briefly, angry that Jaune didn't start throwing the jars immediately.

"The girl with the bow decided to get in the way of our friendly bantering. That's obviously _very_ rude of her to do, so we have to teach her a lesson." Cardin said, dripping with sarcastic anger. Okay. Jaune could understand Cardin's reasoning in a twisted way.

"What about Pyrrha?" Jaune asked. He didn't spend very much time getting to know Pyrrha, even if she was his partner, but she doesn't seem like the type of girl to mess with Cardin in any way. Cardin snorted angrily at the question.

"What—does it matter? I told you to throw the jars, so throw them!" Cardin said angrily. Jaune kept an eyebrow raised. Now that was a defensive answer if there was one. Jaune turned his attention to the two girls.

Pyrrha was laughing and collecting sap with Ruby and Weiss, the three of them talking about dust-knows-what girls talk about when they're in a Grimm infested forest. Blake on the other hand, was filling the last of her jars, eyeing Yang in amusement as Yang hopped around excitedly and generally made terrible puns.

Jaune wasn't here to make any friends. In fact, how hard would it be to throw the two jars at them and make sure that Cardin would keep his secret? Jaune grabbed the two jars out of Cardin's hands, looking at each one individually.

How hard could it be?

But…

Jaune glanced at Pyrrha. She didn't really deserve this. She's been nothing but good to Jaune, even when he acted distant, almost to the point of hostile. The only negative emotion that he got from Pyrrha was frustration, and only because Jaune wasn't trusting in her as a partner. Jaune stared at the jar in the right hand. If he threw the jar, there would be no attempts at creating a closer relationship than what they had.

And Blake. Blake was… a friend. She was the one who got through to him when the others couldn't. She was quiet, but insightful. And she knew about alchemy, the one thing that Jaune was genuinely interested in, but couldn't talk to anybody because no one was supposed to know about it. She had secrets that she was trying to hide, and for the life of him, Jaune couldn't help but know more about her.

It didn't hurt that she liked a lot of the same books that he did.

So no. Jaune wouldn't do something like this. Jaune closed his eyes and sighed in resignation, his logical side, cultivated by years of studying a highly technical science, berated him for choosing the hard way out, a way that could potentially ruin many people's lives if the information went out to the wrong people.

The brighter, more hopeful side of him cheered, glad that for once, Jaune was focusing on something other than himself.

Cardin was smiling, having heard the resigned sigh that Jaune had let loose, and thinking that Jaune was actually going to throw the jars at the girls.

He was only half right.

"You know what Cardin?" Jaune said quietly, causing Cardin to pause in his mind the cruel soundtrack that he was playing. Jaune turned around with fire in his eyes, his lips set in a straight line.

"I think I've had enough of you." Jaune said, before flinging both jars at Cardin. Both jars shattered against Cardin's breastplate, but one of the jars had hit higher than the other, and some of the sap was flung into Cardin's eyes, causing him to cry out in pain. Cardin stumbled back, cursing angrily at Jaune while the other three of his teammates spread out into a loose circle, ready to show Jaune what a great idea that was.

Jaune looked at the three of them with an amused smile. He spread his arms out in a façade of confusion.

"What's wrong guys? I have bad aim. And look on the bright side. At least the sap covers up all of that wasted testosterone that makes the girls avoid him." Jaune raised a hand, tapping his chin. "Or is that just 'cause Cardin's an ass?"

The three of them snarled, jumping at Jaune in preparation to beat Jaune into a pulp.

Jaune raised his arms in preparation to dish out as much damage as possible. Jaune might have been good, but he wasn't good enough to fight three guys that were around the same level as him and come out unscathed.

However, there was someone who could.

Springing out of the bushes, Pyrrha thrusted Miló into the chest of Russel, knocking him back. With another step forward, she bashed her shield against Sky, causing him to fly back as well. Dove jumped at the first sight of Pyrrha, ready to attack her while she was off guard.

A black ribbon snaked around his wrist and pulled him towards Blake, who simply slammed the hilt of Gambol Shroud across his forehead, knocking him out cold.

Jaune turned to look at the two of them.

"How did you know I was here?" Jaune asked. Pyrrha shrugged and pointed to Blake, who answered his question.

"I heard you and Cardin speaking. I thought you might have needed some help, so I told Pyrrha what was happening and we decided to rescue our damsel in distress." Blake said wryly, smiling a little.

Jaune rolled his eyes and huffed out an indignant breath, crossing his arms.

"Please. I'm a badass in distress, thank you very much." Blake quirked an eyebrow at Jaune. Pyrrha watched the two of them interact, frowning a little at the display of closeness they were showing.

Jaune was her partner.

"Why didn't you tell us that Cardin was bullying you?" Pyrrha asked. Jaune made a complicated expression, but before he could answer, Cardin stood up again, blinking furiously to try and get the sap out of his eyes.

"You," Cardin seethed out, "are dead Jauney boy." Cardin fumbled around his hips and pulled out his mace before Jaune rolled his eyes again and transmutated the ground beside Cardin, propelling him deeper into the forest.

Jaune turned his attention back to Pyrrha.

"I…" Jaune wasn't really sure what to say. All he knew was that she deserved more from Jaune than what he was giving. "I'm sorry." Jaune said lamely, deciding to start with that.

Pyrrha smiled gently at him.

"Apology accepted Jaune. On one condition." Pyrrha added. Jaune nodded, deciding that it wouldn't hurt to try and make amends with her. She raised a finger up, "You must try and get to know us better, and let us know you better. And you must also remember that no matter what happens," Pyrrha dropped her arm down, "we are your friends, and we are _here_ for you."

Jaune smiled at that. Maybe. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to have friends after all.

What's the harm?

A scream echoed behind the Jaune, and he spun around. Taking a few quick steps, the trees branched out to reveal Cardin, with sap still covering him, swinging his mace frantically at several Ursai who were approaching him.

Jaune could see that Cardin was having trouble seeing, and pulled out Crocea Mors to help him before hesitating. A second went by as Jaune thought carefully to himself. If Cardin died from this, there wouldn't be any harm of him telling everybody about Jaune's secret would there?

There's also the fact that Jaune wouldn't have to worry about Cardin pestering him every single day and making the already strained relationship with his teammates.

And going from Jaune's past experiences, as well as watching Cardin bully Velvet, Jaune was sure a few other people would benefit from his death.

In that moment Jaune's grip on his sword loosened just a slight, his body relaxing from the jump that he was going to do.

Cardin stumbled and fell, his mace falling away from him. He screamed in terror as the Ursa reared up on its hind legs, ready to snap his head off with a swipe of the paws.

A loud clang rang out as the Ursa was met with Akúo. Pyrrha grunted in pain, trying to keep the heavy pressure from crushing Cardin, as well as herself. Blake flew forward as well, fending off the other Ursai that were approaching.

Jaune berated himself and drew out his sword again.

What kind of Huntsman was he, to leave someone defenseless and just watch him die?

Well, technically, Jaune wasn't a hunter but…

What kind of human would Jaune be if he just let Cardin die like that?

For once, the logic that pervades his mind sickened him.

Jaune rushed forwards and impaled a nearby Ursa, continuing along the circle with Blake and Pyrrha, making sure that there was a wide circle around Cardin. The numbers kept increasing though, and even the three of them were having trouble fighting off the horde as well as protect Cardin, who was slowing trying to wipe the sticky substance out of his eyes.

One of the Ursa finally broke ranks and rushed towards Cardin. Blake, Pyrrha, and Jaune were all too far away to help Cardin at this point.

In a desperate ploy, Jaune punched the Ursa he was fighting with in the jaw, propelling it backwards a few steps. Using those precious seconds, Jaune clapped his hands together and placed them on the ground of the forest, creating massive spikes to erupt and impale the Ursa.

Once again, Jaune clapped and concentrated every thought in his body to focus on the next transmutation. This was something that he had never done before. Once again Jaune placed his hands on the ground, and in doing so, created the largest transmutation he had ever attempted to do.

Tree limbs stretched out to grab and tangle as many of the Ursai limbs as possible. The ground cracked and went loose like sand, causing many of the Grimm to stumble and unable to find a firm surface to grasp. The air that surrounded the clearing turned into a flammable gas, while the air around Jaune, Cardin, Pyrrha, and Blake was completely vacated of oxygen, leaving the four of them briefly breathless. Jaune's head cracked open with unbelievable pain at this point.

Jaune sunk to his knees, groaning at the pain, barely able to think. He had no control over his body at this point, which meant that striking and creating a spark would be just as hard for Jaune as flapping his arms and flying.

Luckily, all that was needed was a tiny spark, and Pyrrha provided that when she blocked the claws of another Ursa.

The whole forest was lit in flames, searing every Ursa around them into charcoal, while the four of them were protected—barely—from the inferno because of the lack of flammable fuel around them, as well as because of their aura's, which pretty much shattered into pieces trying to protect them from facing the same fate as the Ursai.

When the fire abated, Jaune was left kneeling in a clearing of blackened trees, many leveled down and toppled to the ground, surrounded by dead, dying, or disintegrating Grimm. Blake and Pyrrha stood there a little awestruck, as well as heaving large breaths to make up for the lack of oxygen a few seconds before.

Cardin, on the other hand, was dumbfounded at the display of sheer power that Jaune had demonstrated. Jaune rose slowly, trying to ward away the buzzing pain surrounding his head, hurting everywhere, yet feeling as though it was collecting towards the back of his mind.

Finally, Jaune straightened up to his full height, and looked down at Cardin with calm and analytical eyes.

Cardin sat there shaking, his expression fearful. Jaune's eyes showed no emotion, and he looked as if he wouldn't have wasted another thought on killing the pathetic mess in front of him at that moment.

Cardin couldn't really be at blame for the warm, wet feeling that was trailing down his thighs and collected underneath him.

The moment was broken when Professor Goodwitch appeared.

"What is going on here?" She demanded angrily, casting a glance around at the destruction that centered around her students.

Jaune looked away from Cardin, breaking the illusion of an imposing figure as he grinned tiredly at her.

"I blew up the forest." He said simply. Goodwitch's lips tightened into a thin line, and you could almost see veins popping out of her forehead.

"Do you have an appropriate reason for this… rashness, Mr. Arc?" She gritted out.

Jaune opened his mouth and closed it, thinking for a second. Then Jaune shrugged.

"We were surrounded by Ursai, and it was the only way that I could think of that would get all of us out." He replied. It would have been a very reasonable response too, if Jaune hadn't added, "And I thought it would look so _cool_."

Professor Goodwitch sighed, fingers pinching the bridge of her nose as she warded away her headache, as well as her urge to murder the young man. After all, Ozpin still needed him.

"Just… please get back to your groups and get ready to depart." Professor Goodwitch said in a defeated tone, spinning on her heels to leave the four of them alone again, swishing her crop to tear _RDL out of the trees and off of the ground, unceremoniously dropping them afterwards.

Jaune sheathed Crocea Mors and looked down at Cardin, who still sat there frozen.

"Cardin?" Jaune said softly, yet firmly. Cardin jumped at the tone of voice, raising his head a little to meet Jaune in the eyes. He almost whimpered seeing Jaune's eyes again, as deadly as they were before.

"Never cross me."

And with that, Jaune turned and left the clearing, leaving both Pyrrha and Blake running behind him.

They slowly caught up to him, Blake grabbing his shoulder.

"Hey." Blake said softly. Jaune stopped moving, but didn't turn around. He knew what kind of face he had on just a minute ago.

It was the same face he had on six years ago after he killed his grandfather. Pyrrha also approached close to the side, expression curious and concerned, but not really daring to touch Jaune.

"Are you alright Jaune?" She asked. Jaune paused and thought about what just happened, as well as what Blake was talking about the other night. Jaune nodded.

"Yes." Jaune turned around to face Pyrrha. "Can you please tell Ren and Nora to stay in our room for tonight? I need to talk to you guys about something." Jaune took a deep breath in. "It's about my semblance." Blake's eyes widened in surprise before Jaune turned to her as well.

"Could you bring your team over too?" Jaune asked awkwardly. Blake tried to wrap her head around the request. Wasn't it supposed to be a close secret? Blake opened her mouth to ask him his reasoning before Jaune gave a weary smile that stopped her short.

"I think I'm done with hiding from my… friends." Jaune said. Blake closed her mouth, stunned at the admission, which made her think about her own secrets.

Maybe… maybe it wouldn't be so bad for them both to admit this?

Blake instead gave a soft smile and a nod of her head, which made Jaune grin and turn around, marching back towards Beacon.


	7. Revealing the Secrets

**A/N: So this is pretty much me putting a HUGE band-aid on the boo boo that I made with the chapter I just posted up, realizing that "holy crap that's a huge plot hole."**

 **So hopefully this'll work for y'all.**

 **Thanks for the reviews!**

* * *

After a quick debrief of what had happened at Forever Fall, the two teams gathered into Team RWBY's room, everyone except Jaune and Blake sitting on the floor. The black and blonde pair sat a little higher, one sitting cross haired on the bottom of her bunk, which Jaune thought was an absolutely stupid idea, and the other leaning against the nearby wall.

"Alright, so you've gathered us all here. You said you both wanted to tell us something?" Weiss said, crossing her arms demandingly. Jaune stared at Weiss for a second, not sure if he should just not talk for a little longer just to annoy the little princess. It wasn't because he was scared of telling them all the truth or anything. Nope. No siree. Jaune sighed and uncrossed his own arms, ready to just get the whole thing done and over with.

"Me and Blake need to both tell you guys something." Jaune stared out, trying to ease them all into this.

"Oh my gosh." Yang gasped out, putting a hand to her mouth. "You're pregnant."

"No!" Blake snapped out, her face turning red. Trust Yang to break the mood. She turned her head in confusion to Blake's quick denial.

"You're getting married?" Yang asked again. "I mean, love is love, but don't you think that it's a little too soon—"

"Yang, will you shut up." Blake hissed out, turning even redder than before. Jaune didn't bother with any reply, choosing to cover his face and try not to pay attention to any of the stares given by his friends. Yang cackled a little bit.

"Oh I'm just kidding Blakey." Yang said. "I know that you're waiting until you graduation before you tie the knot so—"

This time Weiss and Ruby jumped on top of Yang, quickly securing her mouth and hands with extra-strength, Huntress-proof duct tape.

"Sorry there Blake." Ruby said sheepishly. "Please continue." She said. Blake sighed out in relief, before glaring at Yang, who was trying to find a way out of her bonds.

"Now that all of the interruptions are taken care of—" Jaune said amusingly, before, of course, Nora decided that Yang was having all the fun.

"Hey, no fair, how come Yang gets to be tied up? I wanna be tied up! Then it can be like a spy movie where I have to try and escape before the lasers cut my into tiny pieces and I defeat the bad guys by breaking all their legs and then I meet this totally hot guy who tries to kiss me because I saved him and everything and I would go like 'no sir, I can't because I have someone waiting for me' but I don't really, except for Ren, but he's not really by boyfriends or anything, he's just my friend that I like, well—" Nora kept prattling on and on until Ruby handed Ren the extra-strength, Huntress-proof duct tape. Pyrrha and Ren got to work on Nora, who ended up just as trussed up as Yang was, only squealing happily and treating the bonds like a game.

"Right." Jaune said in amusement. "That is some tape you've got there. Where'd you get it?" Weiss smiled.

"The Schnee Dust Company has ventures in other things besides Dust." She answered.

"Right." Jaune said, laughing a little.

"Well, now that all the interruptions have been completely shut out," Jaune said, pointedly ignoring Yang's furious outcries and Nora's attempts to hum "The Lion sleeps Tonight". "I guess we can't really put this off any longer. Why don't you go first Blake?" Jaune said, turning to Blake, who glared at him.

While Jaune did have a point, knowing that explaining what Blake was would take a shorter time, Blake did _not_ enjoy being put on the spot like that all of a sudden. Blake finally turned down her glare when Jaune grinned humorously at her, showing that he wasn't really doing it out of malicious intent.

Sighing, Blake reached up to the top of her bow, wanting to show everybody rather than tell them. The bow loosened and fell off of Blake's head, revealing her two faunus ears, flicking nervously at the sudden exposure.

The room fell quiet, where even Yang and Nora stopped thrashing around and just looked at the appendages.

"Wow… Blake… you're…" Ruby said in wonder. "So cute with those ears of yours!" Ruby squealed, causing everyone in the vicinity to wince. "Oh my gosh they're so cute and fluffy looking. Can I touch them? Can I? Can I? Can I? Can I?" Ruby said, practically diving towards Blake, who screamed a little in fear at the sudden bullet that was Ruby.

Luckily, Pyrrha had fast enough reactions to use her semblance and stop Ruby in midair, plopping her down onto the floor and holding her there until she calmed down. Ruby took deep breaths before looking at Pyrrha, nodding to show that she was good now.

"Sorry about that Blake. I guess I just got a little excited." Ruby said apologetically. Blake smiled softly at her.

"No, it's alright Ruby, I'm glad you aren't mad." Blake said.

"Mad? Why would I be mad? I mean, yeah you were hiding them from us, but it's hard to blame you when there's so much discrimination against the faunus, right?" Ruby said supportively. Blake blinked in surprise, caught off guard by how insightful the fifteen year-old girl was. Blake's smile grew a little wider.

"Thank you Ruby." Blake said.

"I would say the same thing." Pyrrha added in, keeping her soft smile on her face. "I think that it's a great honor that you're willing to trust us enough to tell us about this." Ren and Nora nodded in agreement.

With every person accepting Blake for who she was, her heart felt lighter and lighter, happy that she had found friends who were willing to accept her for who she was and not discriminate for what she was.

However, there was still one that hadn't said anything yet, waiting for everyone to have their say.

Blake turned a little fearfully to Weiss, whose face was completely emotionless. Everyone else turned and looked at Weiss as well, waiting to see what she would say.

"Blake. Is there anything else you would like to tell the group?" Jaune said, interrupting Weiss just as she was about to speak. Jaune knew that the next piece of information was absolutely crucial to tell before Weiss said anything, else everything they've been working for could backfire. Blake swallowed nervously, knowing that what she would say next could possibly turn everyone's opinion of her in a completely opposite direction.

"I was also in the White Fang." Blake added in quietly. Again the room fell quiet, and this time, Blake wasn't sure she wanted to look around at the faces before her. Blake didn't want to see angry faces, or hurt, or betrayed. But she needed to. Glancing up, Blake caught everyone's expressions in one go.

Acceptance.

Some more than others, but none of them had faces that looked like they detested Blake, and even Weiss's stunned look wasn't one of accusations and anger.

Now though, it was finally time to see what Weiss thought of this.

"I can't accept this." Weiss said calmly. "There's no way I can accept a White Fang member and a faunus as a team member. I would rather die."

Blake's breath caught itself in her chest before Weiss raised an eyebrow.

"That's what you probably think I would say, wouldn't you?" Weiss said, before smirking a little. She turned her face slightly to the side, her expression a little more melancholy. "I think… I think if you had told me right when we joined as a team, I would have said something like that. Now though… Now I got to know you, and I got to know other faunus and… that's not what I think." Weiss said, before taking a deep breath.

"Are you still with the White Fang?" Weiss asked. Blake shook her head.

"I left when it started to get more and more violent. I didn't believe in trying to change you minds by killing the people you love. That would be counterproductive. And I don't want to have any more blood on my hands." Blake raised her chin defiantly. "If I'm going to change the world, I'll do it my way. Peacefully."

Weiss smiled at that.

"Then I don't have a problem with that. Thank you for telling us now, instead of having to get it forced out of you later." Weiss said primly.

At that, everyone gave a grin and looked at each other happily, glad that it ended on a good note. But now it was Jaune's turn.

"Alright, now that the cat's out of the bag," Jaune said, smirking a little. Yang guffawed through her tape, falling onto the floor at the pun. Blake just rolled her eyes, her mood too happy to be ruined by something like that. "Now it's my turn to tell you all a secret."

Jaune drew in a breath.

"Have you guys ever heard of Alchemy before?"


	8. Against the Plan

**EDIT: Wow, the feedback I got from this chapter was... less than stellar, and I can see why. Holy hell, I made some big mistakes in this one. To make up for that, I've posted a chapter BEFORE this one, as well as smoothed this chapter out a little, tried to pace this right. Thank you everyone who reviewed and told me about the mistakes, I really appreciated it. Please let me know if the 'last' chapter is up to par.**

 **I'm also thinking of taking on a beta if anyone's interested, so that they find a way to fix my idiotic mistakes BEFORE I make them. PM me if you're interested.**

 **Thanks again for everyone who pointed the mistakes out to me!**

 **A/N: And another chapter! Yay!**

 **For the sticklers to detail, before you say anything after you read this chapter,** ** _yes_** **I know Emerald and Mercury kill Tukson before the introduction to the Vytal Festival in the show.**

 **However, this is mah story, and I'm moving that to replace the Dust robbery that the group witnesses, cause it'll be important!**

 **And much more fun to write!**

 **Yay!**

 **:D**

 **I know how many of you guys don't like when I railroad the story so... sorry for the beginning.**

 **'nyways, Onwards!**

* * *

The door opened to admit two customers, ringing to notify the man working there.

"Hello there, welcome to Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the sun," Tukson said, setting down the large pile of books in his arms. He turned to the customers. "How may I—uh,"

Standing in front of him was a dark skinned girl with green hair, smiling politely at him, although her red eyes seem to be showing a different story. Behind her was a taller guy, sifting through his books. Tukson hesitated for only another second before continuing.

"How may I help you?" He said falteringly.

The gray-haired boy barely even turned to Tukson when he replied, "Just browsing," in a conversational tone. The girl on the other hand, leaned forward onto the counter.

"Actually, I was wondering if you have any copies of _The Thief and the Butcher_?" She said. Tukson kept his shaky smile and nodded.

"Yes we do." He said, drawing out the sentence in an almost somber fashion. This was getting a little dangerous Tukson thought to himself. Casually he leaned forward as well, resting his hands on the edge of the counter, with his fingers underneath.

"Would you like a copy?" Tukson asked, before the girl shook her head, telling him that she was just wondering. The boy slammed shut another book, placing it almost delicately back on the shelf.

This was repeated a few more times, with the girl asking for a book, Tukson replying, and the boy finding a way to add something into the conversation. Finally the pattern was broken when the girl asked for the _Third Crusade_. Tukson stopped short, tensing a little under the watchful eyes of the two kids.

"Uh. I don't think we carry that one." Tukson said. The pair turned to look at each other, both sporting a mask of surprise.

"Oh? Huh. What was this place called again?" The girl asked casually. Tukson was starting to sweat a little at the unusual questioning.

"T—Tukson's Book Trade." He said.

"And you're Tukson?" She asked, to which he nodded.

"So you're the one that came up with the catchphrase?"

Tukson understood what they were implying, his hands tightening under the counter.

"It's just a saying." He muttered.

"It's false advertising!" The boy declared. The girl looked at him slyly.

"You shouldn't make a promise you can't keep, Tukson."

While that was happening, the boy moved to the side a little, casting a hand to the side to lower the shades and darken the inside of the building.

"I hear you're moving away." The green-haired girl continued, her tone taking on a slightly more menacing edge than before. "Moving all the way to Vacuo. Your brothers in the White Fang wouldn't be happy to hear that."

"And neither are we." She added. The lights grew dimmer and dimmer.

"You know who we are, don't you?" The girl asked. Tukson's eyes narrowed a little.

"Yes." Came the short reply.

"And you know why we're here?"

"Yes."

"So. Are you going to fight back?" The girl had a smug look on her face, knowing that any amount of resistance could be handled with by the two of them. Tukson's hard smiled, knowing that they were sent to kill him.

Luckily, he had a few tricks up his sleeve.

"No."

The girl tensed up for a second before the word registered in her mind. A brief pause of confusion held as the pair weren't expecting him to say something like that. Before they could move however, Tukson was finally able to locate the intricate circle he had carved underneath his counter and touched it, sending a little bit of aura in to activate it.

In a sudden moment, the counter exploded into millions of pieces of shrapnel, blinding all the pair of kids in the store.

Blindly, the gray-haired boy started to kick, blasts shooting out from his feet while the girl tried to concentrate above the pain to locate the mind of the fleeing Tukson.

Tukson let out a grunt of pain as a few hits grazed him while he was fleeing out the backdoor.

The girl's red eyes sharpened into a scowl as she signaled the boy to chase after the fleeing faunus.

* * *

Emerald limped a little into the White Fang base, held up by Mercury, who was sporting a bruised side.

They came to stop in front of a flamboyantly dressed criminal in a black bowler hat, who gave them a huge grin as they approached.

"Oh look, she sent the kids again! This is turning out just like the divorce." Torchwick said, grabbing the two of them. Both of them winced and pushed out of his grasp, Emerald shivering a bit.

"Spare us the thought of you procreating." Emerald said in exasperation. Torchwick walked past the two of them.

"That was a joke," He said, holding up a piece of paper that he had snatched after grabbing onto Emerald. "And this might tell me where you two have been all day getting beat up." He said.

Emerald's eyes widened as she pat her sides, surprised that Torchwick was able to steal from her. He waved the slip of paper in front of her face and gave a smug grin.

"Professional thief, kiddo, don't look so put down." He said while reading the slip of paper. His eyebrows raised higher and higher.

"Tukson? The animal that owns the bookstore? He's the one who got you two to look like you've been in a warzone?" His tone was incredulous, with a hint of laughter. "You must be slipping."

Emerald scowled and crossed her arms.

"It was unexpected. He had a few tricks up his sleeve." She said. Mercury grunted as he set Emerald down on a nearby chair and straightened up.

"Yeah. Apparently he stole a few tricks from the White Fang." Mercury said.

"Tricks?" Roman said questioningly. "Like…" Emerald and Mercury just nodded, knowing what Roman was trying to ask. Roman stopped moving for a second, thinking about the implications of that.

"Huh." Roman said, "Well that can't be good."

"No, it most certainly is not."

Roman and the two kids turned to see a beautiful woman step out of the darkness, her eyes glowing softly like burning embers. She placed a hand on the crates next to her, trailing along slowly towards them.

"So. Tukson used alchemy didn't he?" Cinder asked slowly. Emerald nodded respectfully, wincing in pain as she stood up. Cinder slowly tapped a finger rhythmically against a box, making a slow clicking sound.

"I see." Cinder murmured. "You did take care of him?"

Emerald and Mercury nodded frantically, jumping to the chance of reassuring her that they hadn't screwed up too badly. Cinder gave a small sigh.

"Well, at least I have that going for me. Very well. Bring him in." Cinder said casually. Emerald and Mercury headed out of the room to fetch the trussed up Tukson. While they did so, Cinder turned to Roman, who pretended not to be listening in with great interest.

"Roman." Cinder said slowly. "This was supposed to be your job. Why is it that _I_ have to send in my people to deal with something so inconsequential?"

Roman puffed his chest up and kept the grin on his face, gesturing to the boxes that surrounded them.

"What do you think Cinder?" Roman said grandly. "Sorry I've been too busy stealing every speck of Dust in the kingdom to deal with something as _inconsequential_ as that. I simply thought that you needed one more than the other."

Roman gave an unmanly shriek as an arrow pierced the wall right next to him. Cinder lowered her bow and looked at him carefully, no emotion showing in either her voice or her face.

"What I _need_ is someone who is competent enough to handle everything I tell them to handle, when I tell them to handle it. Tell me Roman, am I giving you more than you can handle?" Cinder finished the sentence with a fake-sweet tilt of her voice, causing Roman to shudder in fear.

"What? No! Of course not!" Roman said, trying to laugh it off, but sounded more like he was crying. "No, right, I simply… overlooked him? Just a little? I was going to fix the problem, I swear Cinder." He said. The bow in Cinder's hands dissipated and she dropped her arms into a more passive position.

"Well, see to it that it doesn't happen again." Cinder turned as Emerald and Mercury returned, dragging in a semi-conscious Tukson.

"Ah. Well at least I will have something to entertain myself for a little longer. Oh and Roman, you'll be glad to know that after one more raid, we will done with the Dust." She said.

Roman looked at the two kids, who looked just as clueless as he was.

"Okay, so what now?" Roman said.

Cinder held up her glove, which was inscribed with an intricate circle. Snapping her fingers, she conjured up a flickering flame, grinning a little while she did so.

"We're moving on to phase two." Cinder said, before disappearing into the night.

* * *

"Ah, the Vytal Festival! This will be absolutely wonderful! A festival that's dedicated to the cultures of the world with dances, parades, a tournament!" Weiss was practically hopping and skipping around in excitement, which quite frankly freaked out everyone that was walking with her.

After Jaune revealed his secret of alchemy and explained what had happened to him, the group was just as quick to accept him as they did with Blake, only asking more questions because of their curiousity about the lost art. For the next week, Team RWBY and Team JNPR popped in and out of Jaune's room, asking questions about the art, which Jaune readily answered, happy to talk about the thing that he loved.

With the comraderie that they all were feeling, both teams decided to hang out with each other on one of their free days, walking towards the docks.

"You really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring." Yang said, crossing her arms. Jaune snickered a little before Weiss turned to him with a glare, effectively shutting him up. He's had enough run-ins with that glare from his sisters to know that it was time to tuck that tail in and hide.

"So what are we doing here Weiss?" Pyrrha asked, walking alongside Jaune. Nora and Ren were hanging out in the back of the group, with Nora literally hanging off of Ren as she laughed gleefully. The two teams arrived at the docks, a few of them wrinkling their noses at the smell of fish, while Blake's pupils shrunk in at the smell, practically salivating at the thought of fish. Weiss turned to Pyrrha.

"I heard that the students from Vacuo will be arriving here by ship today." She said. "And as a representative of Beacon, it is our solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom."

"She wants to spy on them." Blake said shortly. Weiss scoffed at the accusation, turning to Blake.

"You can't prove that." Weiss said haughtily.

"Woah." Ruby said, pulling the group short as she directed their attention towards a group of policemen that were surrounding a store. Blake gasped quietly and broke away from the group, walking up to the policemen. One of them took notice and blocked her way.

"Sorry girl, you can't cross here. There's an ongoing investigation." He said.

"What happened here?" Blake said, a hint of urgency coating her voice. Jaune looked at the sign hanging above the store. _Tukson's Book Trade._ Jaune's eyebrows rose in curiosity. Something felt weird about the place. A feeling gathered in Jaune's stomach, familiar, but… different. Jaune took a step forward.

"The owner of the store's missing. There're signs of a struggle, but no bodies yet, so we aren't exactly sure what happened." The officer said. Blake only looked more and more worried as the officer spoke.

"Do you know the owner?" Weiss asked softly, touching her elbow. Blake turned away, taking note of the officer, not speaking until he was out of range.

"He was like me." One of the White Fang, Blake meant. Weiss didn't react, waiting for her to continue speaking. "I told him that it would be a good idea to get out of town, but… "

Everyone could agree that it didn't look as though Blake's friend had left very peacefully.

Jaune kept a frown on his face, taking another step forward. And another. And another.

Before anyone could stop him, Jaune was able to get a glance of the inside of the shop, where thousands of pieces of shrapnel seemed to be embedded on every inch of the store. If Jaune didn't know any better, he would have guessed that it was from one of the circles that he wrote when he was younger, designed to transmutated enough of the substance it was written on into propellant and causing the object to explode. Jaune didn't use that transmutation anymore, having long refined it and created a different, more streamlined use of it. The earliest ones Jaune had created were very volatile and tended to have a backlash on the user.

 _What else could make something like this happen?_

This couldn't be alchemy though, could it?

"Hey kid, you can't be here." The officer returned, placing a hand on Jaune's chest. Jaune looked up at the officer, briefly contemplating on just pushing him aside so that Jaune could have a closer look at the store.

Giving a small smile, Jaune apologized and stepped back, turning to face Blake and the rest of the group with a worried look.

"Is there something wrong Jaune?" Ren asked, his arms holding onto Nora's legs as she piggy-back rode him. Jaune nodded slowly.

"I think whatever happened in there had something to do with Alchemy." Jaune said.

"Alchemy?" Yang asked. "You mean your super secret super power?" Jaune waved a hand in annoyance at how Yang had phrased it.

"It's not a super power. It's physical knowledge." Jaune said quietly. Blake placed a hand on Jaune's shoulder, her expression mirroring Jaune's.

"Tukson was White Fang." Blake said.

"Do you think…?" Jaune asked, stopping himself from asking the whole question.

"That he learned it there?" Blake asked. Jaune nodded.

"I think so." Blake said quietly.

There was a quiet consensus between the two of them before they faced the group again.

"I think we're going to go back to Beacon to look over some things." Jaune said. Blake simply nodded along. This didn't seem to sit well with the rest of the group.

"Then we'll head with you guys." Pyrrha said. "After all, we can help you with this." Jaune just shook his head.

"No, you guys are out here for a reason, we don't want to ruin your days with this. Besides, it's just a little research is all." Jaune waved his hand casually. "Nothing dangerous."

"And if you guys find something?" Ruby asked, uncharacteristically stern.

"We'll tell you guys about it before we do anything else." Blake said. Jaune nodded in agreement, raising his right hand.

"Promise."

The other six looked at each other uncertainly, not sure they really wanted to let the two most mysterious people they know try and collude with each other. But reassured by the promise, they decided to reluctantly let Jaune and Blake go.

After all, what's the worst that could happen?

* * *

Jaune and Blake were completely surrounded by White Fang who were headed by Roman Torchwick.

"You know, for someone who reads a lot of books, you sure don't think things through very well, do you?" Jaune said quietly. Blake didn't bother saying anything. Roman walked in a circle around them, casting an amused expression while he twirled Melodic Cudgel around in his hand.

"So kids, what am I going to do with you two?" Roman's cane pointed towards Blake. "You're quite pretty, kitty. It would be a shame just to kill you. You, on the other hand." Roman said with a hint of distaste, looking at Jaune. Jaune promptly ignored Roman, instead keeping his hands inside the pockets of his hoodie, seemingly fiddling with something inside. Roman gave a sigh.

"Well, it really doesn't matter. This operation is _kind_ of important, and we really don't need any more upstarts like you two. Actually, you guys should be grateful I'm just killing you two. I hear my boss tends to like to… play… with her food." Roman said. Jaune, again just ignoring Roman, sighed.

"Something on your mind kid?" Roman asked irritably. Jaune looked at him.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, see, I got a little bored of you gloating so I was trying to make this," Jaune pulled his hands out of his hoodie pocket to reveal a cylinder. "but I'm having a little trouble with the fuse. Luckily, it's really good for throwing!" As Jaune said that, he tossed the cylinder at Roman, who simply raised his cane and shot at it.

"Do you really think—" Roman started to say, before the hot bullet pierced the cylinder, allowing aluminum and potassium perchlorate to mix under the heat, creating a blinding light as well as a large clap of sound, effectively blinding and deafening every surrounding Jaune and Blake.

With his quick thinking, the moment Jaune threw the improvised flashbang he knelt down onto the ground and transmutated a wall that would block both his and Blake's line of view from the grenade.

Without a second thought, Blake sprung into action, making use of the time where the White Fang and Roman had their senses deprived. Quick as lightning, Blake dispatched three of them, creating a small gap that allowed for her to slip through and wreak havoc on the sidelines.

"Argh! Kill them!" Roman said, still trying to regain his vision.

Jaune clapped his hands, once again transmutating the ground, this time into the shape of a fist, rising quickly up and smashing into Roman's jaw.

"Maybe that'll make you shut up." Jaune muttered before pulling out Crocea Mors and facing the circle that surrounded him. For the first time in a very long time, Jaune decided to expand his sheathe into the full shield, to protect his side.

While that was a way to protect himself, Jaune never really practiced fighting with a shield, and that made for very clumsy maneuvers, which led to Jaune promising himself to practice fighting this more.

While Jaune was being tossed around like a ball by the White Fang, Blake quickly dispatched more and more members. Things were starting to finally even out a bit… until the Bullheads appeared and started to fire on them.

"Oh wonderful," Jaune gritted out, getting peppered by bullets and hit by swords and the like. "You know, I was starting to feel that this was getting too easy anyways. Why not bring the Bullheads? Heck, find a few horde of Grimm while you're at it, I'll wait." Jaune lunged forward with his shield, bashing another White Fang member back who got a little too close, but was rewarded with a hailstorm of bullets raining down on his back.

Jaune cried out in pain and collapsed, mind in shock and unable to focus enough to stand up again, much less try and fight his way out. Blake was also getting cornered by the suppressive fire coming from the Bullheads, preventing Blake from taking open engagements with the other fighters.

 _Please, why can't these things just blow up already?_ Jaune thought to himself desperately.

Which they then, of course did.

Jaune blinked at the sight of several Bullheads careening to the ground from explosions which rocked the White Fang off their feet as well. Jaune blinked again in surprise before looking up to the sky.

 _Can you drop a ship on Cardin while you're at it too?_

"I am combat ready!" A voice said confidently. Jaune turned to see a cute girl wearing a pink bow saluting at him. Ruby stood at her side, jaw agape. The girl hopped down off of the crate that she was on top of and pulled out several swords from her backpack and started to fling the swords around, tossing the White Fang around.

While that was happening, the rest of RWBY and JNPR filtered in and started to fight as well. Weiss landed beside Jaune, glaring at him.

"I thought you promised you would wait before you did something stupid." Weiss bit out angrily. Jaune smiled as disarmingly as possible.

"No," Jaune said, "we promised we would _tell_ you before we did something stupid. So we found out about this suspicious shipment arriving soon, and decided to run off and see what happened before they took off with it. And we messaged you about it, so it's not like we were really lying anyways."

Weiss gritted her teeth.

"And how did you guys end up like this?" She asked.

"Oh, you mean trapped in a circle with a bunch of White Fang members?" Jaune asked casually. "Well, Blake saw Roman working with them, and she couldn't help but spring down there and helpfully point out that the White Fang would never work with a scumbag like him." Jaune winced as two Whte Fang members flew past him, hitting a nearby wall. "And because of my bleeding heart, I couldn't help but go into the fray because she was surrounded by people because, surprise surprise, the White Fang _do_ work for Roman. Quite a story right?" Jaune said, grinning.

Weiss scoffed in disgust. "We'll talk about this later." She said before joining into the fray.

Roman knew he was beat at this point.

"I really need to put up a few 'no trespassing' signs every once in a while." Roman muttered. "Neo! Time to go!" Roman turned as Neo popped in from nowhere, grinning at the group of kids. With a brief wave, Neo latched onto Roman.

"No!" Blake said angrily, rushing towards Neo, trying to catch her before both Roman and Neo shattered into pieces and disappeared.


	9. The Enemy Arrives

**A/N: Hm. Lots of backlash last chapter. Hopefully this chapter's a bit more... tame. XD**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

Professor Ozpin sat at his desk, looking at the two students in front of him. For the past ten minutes Ozpin had been busily typing away, while answering several phone calls about the attack that had happened the other night. Finally, in a brief break between a letter being sent out and answering another phone call about Team JNPR and Team RWBY's escapades, the headmaster was able to turn his attention on the two students, who had everything to do with the headache that he was having at the moment.

With a sigh, Ozpin finally laid his hands flat on the top of his desk and looked levelly at Blake and Jaune.

"You know, I expected this Blake to get involved with something from the White Fang, but for someone who doesn't want to be involved in this school, you being there seems to be quite the surprise Jaune." Ozpin said.

Jaune shrugged nonchalantly. Ozpin may be the Headmaster of Beacon, but Jaune really didn't see him as a superior. Especially if Ozpin was going to be sly and try to find a way to keep Jaune at Beacon longer than was necessary.

And besides, the only one that could reprimand Jaune for doing something was his mother.

"I was feeling a little restless." Jaune said casually. An eyebrow raised on Ozpin's face, showing how skeptical he was of the reasoning.

"You felt… restless? So you decided to wreck a port and create a fight with several dozens of White Fang members and five Bullheads?" Ozpin asked. Again another shrug from Jaune.

"I was _really_ restless." Jaune defended impetuously. Another sigh from Ozpin.

"Of course you were." Ozpin said. Ozpin turned his attention briefly towards a screen that popped up to the left of him and read what had shown up before pinching the bridge of his nose in exhaustion. The blond and black pair sat there patiently, waiting for Ozpin to say something.

"That was… very reckless of the both of you. The amount of damage that you caused to public and private property, as well as the disruption that your fight created was… troubling." Ozpin lifted a sheet of paper from the sizable stack set aside for him at the small print.

"As well as giving the staff quite a bit of paperwork." Ozpin finished, setting down the sheet of paper in front of him. At least have enough grace to look a little sheepish, Ozpin thought. But alas, neither one really reacted much to the statement and continued to sit silently, watching Ozpin.

Ozpin threw his hands in the air, tired of attempting to get a reaction out of the two troublemaker.

"Apparently I have been too lenient to the students here if they think they can act without thinking. Two weeks detention for the two of you, starting tonight."

Blake and Jaune relaxed their shoulders a little, admitting to themselves that two weeks of detention wasn't the worst thing that could have happened.

Ozpin paused for a second, before adding in one more quip.

"Professor Goodwitch will be in charge of overseeing your detentions." Ozpin said.

It didn't take much more to make the color drain completely out of their faces.

* * *

Torchwick wasn't having the best day of his life.

After being rebuffed by the little brats, Roman had to call in Neo to break a hasty retreat, which did _not_ bode well for his reputation. It didn't help that the whole city was combing the place for the two of them after they escaped.

In an angry huff, Roman plopped himself down onto a couch and leaned back.

"Something the problem, Roman?" A smooth voice said. Roman turned to the slow click-clack of Cinder's heels. Cinder didn't look very happy either, a small frown marring her face.

"Oh, Cinder!" Roman said in fake surprise. "Well, it's really nothing, I mean—"

"Save it Roman." Cinder said, her voice cold, low and furious. "I already know about the lost cargo." Approaching Roman slowly, Cinder laid a finger on Roman's shoulder and let it slide closer and closer to his face. Roman made sure to keep very still, as if Cinder was holding a knife to his throat. Roman tried to think of something, anything that would put prevent her from killing him outright. Or worse.

"I don't think you want to kill me Cinder," Roman said in as smug of a voice as possible. Which wasn't as much as he would have liked, as his voice shook a little when he said that. Cinder raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? And why's that Roman?" Cinder's finger began to heat up a little, making the heat only a degree away from burning. "It's not like you've been performing all that well in the first place." Cinder said mockingly. Roman swallowed his pride for a second, knowing that one wrong step could make him a burnt corpse.

"I've got information. About your precious secret art." Roman shot back. "So I don't think burning me alive is all that great of an idea." Roman said. Cinder tilted her head to the side, looking a little thoughtful.

"Mmm, no I don't burn people alive when they've consistently failed me over and over again, Roman. I experiment." Roman couldn't help but shiver at that, having seen some of Cinder's past experiments before. It was nothing that he wanted a part of.

"And what is this about alchemy that I hear?" Cinder demanded under a thin veil of a question. Roman was glad to offer this up to her, knowing that it would only curry more favor towards him.

"It was a blondie. He used some mojo that didn't look like any semblance to me." Roman said.

"And how do I know what he had wasn't a semblance?" Cinder asked curiously. "This would be quite the waste of time if it turns out that he doesn't know anything about my art." Cinder lowered her gaze, her eyes burning. "And the only think I hate more than failure is having my time wasted."

"He seemed to know a lot of chemistry as well. Isn't that too much of a coincidence to just let slide?" Roman asked desperately. Cinder was quiet for a second, contemplative. Finally, Cinder pointed her finger at Roman, switching subjects.

"What was supposed to be your last haul of Dust has now become your second-to-last haul." Cinder's finger touched Roman's chin, lifting his head so that she could meet him in the eyes.

"I hope this doesn't turn out to be like yesterday, because that would so disappoint me." Cinder's eyes narrowed while her smile grew sharper and sharper.

"And I've already told you what happens to people who disappoint me, don't you Roman?" Cinder purred.

Roman was a hardened criminal that was in the business for several years. He had faced police officers, Atlas soldiers, and even a pack of Hunters once. At this point in his career, there wasn't much that would even faze Roman and his wily wit.

Cinder, however, was one of the things that could.

Roman gulped nervously, a bead of sweat trailing downwards towards his chin. The drop touched Cinder's forefinger, and sizzled into vapor. Roman didn't need to nod to show that he understood. Cinder lifted up her finger and slowly put it to her lips, giving a smirk.

"Good. See to it that you don't mess up again. Or maybe you'll end up like Tukson." With a wave of her hand she left Roman all alone, sitting on his chair. With a shiver, Roman slowly stood up as Neo appeared beside him, looking at him curiously.

Roman looked at Neo with a frown.

"I think it's time for another heist Neo."

* * *

"I… never want to do that again." Jaune moaned, spread out onto the kitchen floor. Blake laid beside him, just as exhausted.

"Tell me… about it." Blake panted out.

As another week passed by, every detention that Blake and Jaune served was another way for Professor Goodwitch to find more and more inhuman and cruel punishments for the two of them to serve.

The first day itself was hard enough, making them trim all the hedges and trees around Beacon… which could have occupied the space of a city itself. The gardens were large enough that it took Jaune and Blake several hours just to finish, and by then, they were so tuckered out. It only got worse and worse as the days went by.

By the end of the week, Goodwitch had them cleaning the kitchens after a particularly messy food fight that had happened earlier in the day.

When Professor Goodwitch had stepped into the lunchroom to break up the food fight, she had looked absolutely livid… until she turned and spotted Jaune and Blake. At that moment, her smile turned several degrees sharper, and the two of them knew they were in for a long night.

After finally finishing all of that work though, and restocking on all their food (why does a cafeteria need _watermelons?_ Or a _turkey_?), the both of them had it up to here with their punishments.

They just wanted a nice long rest on the floor of the newly polished lunch room.

That wasn't going to happen though, as the pair heard the slow clacking of heels on the floor, signaling Professor Goodwitch's approach. In a hurry they stood up, their bodies aching in pain as they tried not to look as if they were slacking.

Professor Goodwitch looked around at the cafeteria, inspecting it inch by inch before finally nodding.

"Good job you too. I'm impressed at how clean the place is." The blonde woman said. Blake and Jaune smiled at each other, glad that they were finally getting on the good side of the scary witch.

"I'm so impressed that I think I'll have to send you two up to Professor Port's office to help him out with his next lecture." Goodwitch said.

The two would have groaned if the professor wasn't standing right there. Instead they gave mumbled affirmatives and trudged past the stern blonde to finish up what they hoped was their last piece of work.

"I can't believe we have to do all of this." Jaune complained to Blake. "If this is what we get when we decide to be good, upstanding hunters, then screw _this_. Next time I'm seeing that flamboyant thief, I'm going to _help_ him take all of that Dust." Blake smiled wanly at Jaune and his poor attempt at humor. Jaune sighed again and kept silent for the rest of the hike towards Professor Port's class.

Helping out Professor Port with his class wasn't anything complicated…. It was just incredibly hard. Without the thirty other people in the classroom, it would be pretty obvious to the loud professor if either of the two of them were losing focus on his lecture. They had to be awake, vigilant, and participate actively with the lecture, which was a hard thing to do when the professor had the voice that could put a caffeine ingested Nora to sleep within seconds. It didn't help that Professor Port's "outlines" for his lectures were almost twice as long as his lectures are, and it was the two unfortunate souls' responsibilities to find a way to pare down the stories that Professor Port told just so that they could fit into his next class.

After what felt like a lifetime, but was only about three hours, Blake and Jaune were released from the torture, and sent out to find some relief from the monotonous droning.

Too tired for any type of conversation, the two students crawled back to their dorms, only pausing for long enough to say good night to one another.

Jaune couldn't believe that they had to do this for another week.

* * *

"You know, you shouldn't be so hard with the two of them." The headmaster said with a hint of humor in his voice. Professor Goodwitch crossed her arms.

"If you didn't want me to be so hard on them, maybe you should have let another teacher be in-charge with their detentions."

Professor Ozpin chuckled a little. "I get this feeling that you aren't so fond of Mr. Arc, Glynda."

Professor Goodwitch kept her frown, not needing to agree with that sentence.

"Ozpin. You know I never agreed with this… bringing in a civilian into this school." Goodwitch said. Professor Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "Civilian?" She nodded at the question.

"Yes. Jaune may be accomplished at fighting, and he may have his Aura unlocked, he is an unwilling participant in this school system, reluctant to fight at all, let alone in a silent war against Grimm." Goodwitch adopted a quieter tone. "Reluctant will only get you killed out here." She finished.

Professor Ozpin nodded his head, knowing that after so many years of teaching and leading on the largest Hunter schools on Remnant that the stern blonde in front of him was right.

Reluctance was a poison that infected any new student. Someone who doesn't want to fight won't have the drive to learn, and without that drive, there will be no improvement. To get into Beacon, there is a rigorous entrance exam that weeds out the less talented, but even at that level, not one of those students could come close to a fully trained Hunter without rigorous training.

Even at Jaune's level, where he had his hidden art up his sleeve would only be a slight annoyance to any Hunter that graduated from a legitimate Hunter school.

If Jaune didn't ever improve, if Jaune was too arrogant and reliant in his alchemy, anyone who discovered his secret could unleash hell onto Jaune. But even so…

Ozpin leaned back into his chair, taking a thoughtful sip out of his mug.

"That may be true Glynda." Ozpin agreed, "But look at Jaune for a little while longer won't you? I have a good feeling that he'll turn around real soon." Ozpin wasn't called the Chessmaster for no reason after all.

From the moment Ozpin had found out about the boy who knew about the lost art of Alchemy, his mind had been churning out a direction for the boy. Ozpin was ready to guide the boy into greatness, and while he was at it, find another way to fight back the dark forces that have recently been encroaching into the light.

As more and more reports of unexplained 'semblance' work started to appear, Ozpin had his worries about a new player, ready to throw chaos into what was already a chaotic playing board.

Ozpin hoped that the addition of another piece would be sufficient enough to turn the tables to his favor.

Professor Goodwitch had many strong opinions, several of them about the untested boy. But she hadn't stood by Ozpin for decades now out of blind faith. She knew that he had something planned, and the only thing she could do now was wait and hope that whatever Ozpin has up his sleeve will come to fruition.

Satisfied with Ozpin's unspoken promise of something more, Professor Goodwitch moved onto other matters.

"Now Ozpin, concerning the upcoming Vytal Tournament…" Goodwitch started off with. Ozpin nodded, signaling her to continue. Goodwitch flicked her riding crop, conjuring up a pen and some paper, the pen starting to write down many numbers.

"Because of the… raids that have been happening recently, its being shown that we are… lacking in terms of Dust. We're either going to need to find a way to procure more Dust, or we're going to have to shut down this year's Vytal Festival." The numbers that were shown to Ozpin were dismal, barely covering a fourth of the Dust that was needed to ensure a smooth festival.

"You wouldn't happen to have any more Dust hidden somewhere, now would you?" Professor Goodwitch asked drily. Ozpin looked at Goodwitch with a small grin.

"Me? No, I'm afraid my Dust detector hasn't found any more hidden caches under our school. But, on the other hand, I _have_ found another company that is willing to work with us to cover the rest of the needed Dust supplies, and is willing to deliver it to us for a reduced fee as well." Ozpin said contentedly, happy that things seemed to be going their way at last.

Glynda was certainly surprised by this, as before tonight, they were having trouble finding any suppliers that were willing to fork over even a fraction of the Dust that was needed by Beacon. And that was full price.

"What company was this?" Professor Goodwitch asked.

"Quite a growing company it is. In fact, the CEO of the company is actually supposed to arrive shortly and talk to me about the small details of the contract. I was hoping that you could stay as well?" Ozpin asked. Glynda nodded. "Of course." She answered back.

"Wonderful." Ozpin said, smiling at her.

As if on cue, the elevator facing Ozpin _ding_ 'ed and the doors opened up.

"Ah, there's the woman of the hour. We were just speaking about you, actually." Ozpin said in a friendly tone.

The heels that the woman clacked against the floor as she swayed towards Ozpin and Glynda. The red dress she wore flowed around the hips as she walked forwards, her smile polite.

But no matter how polite the smile was, Cinder Fall was never able to hide how predatory the smile turned out to be.

"All good things, I hope?" Cinder asked.


	10. Secret Information Revealed

**A/N: Another Chapter Yay!**

 **... er I don't think I've forgotten to reply to anyone...**

 **Tell me if y'all think this way of writing is a little weird, shifting back and forth between present and past like this.**

 **Enjoy :)**

* * *

Jaune sat together with Yang, Ruby, and Weiss, holding up a hand of cards while in deep concentration.

Team RWBY and JNPR had invaded the roof of Beacon and were hanging out around there. Ren and Blake were to the side, one with a book in hand while the other was ritualistically cleaning out his guns. Nora and Pyrrha, who was surprisingly good at dealing with the juvenile valkyrie, were chatting amicably about something that Jaune couldn't really hear much, as they were hanging at the edge of the rails. The rest of them were in a loose circle, trying to duke it out and see who would be the reigning ruler of Remnant.

"I play the uh, horde of Grimm." Jaune said, placing it down and sliding it up to the edge of his borders. Yang nodded sagely.

"Ah very good, trying to reinforce your borders I see. Always a good move. However, I'd like to ask why you put them so close to my kingdom?" She asked. Jaune's brow furrowed in confusion.

"So close to—what're you talking about Yang? I'm literally on the other side of the map." Jaune shot back. Yang gave a smug grin, waving a finger back and forth.

"Ah, ah, ah. You are correct. It's a map. But the world is round! And that means that you are the closest to my kingdom." Yang said seriously. Jaune sputtered a response.

"Wha—but Ruby's been gearing all of her forces towards you for the last six turns!" Jaune protested.

"I am not!" Ruby cried out. "I am simply making sure Yang doesn't get aggressive, and I never beat Yang…" Ruby mumbled out the last part behind her cards. Yang heard that and turned her grin to Ruby.

"That's 'cause you don't know strategizin' like I do, Rubes." Yang drawled out.

"I am a team leader! I know how to strategize!" Ruby tried to slam the table in defiance, but only ended in making a muted thump that sounded about as cute as she looked. Yang just shook her head sadly.

"I'm sorry Ruby. You just aren't ruler material." Yang said before grinning. "I guess you just can't _measure_ up to the job!"

Dead silence.

Jaune sighed before laying down his cards. "I think my turn's done." Ruby nodded, shuffling through her cards.

"Really guys? Nothing?" Yang asked around. "I tried really hard on that one."

Ruby placed another one of her cards down, before placing two of them face down and nodding to Weiss, who looked completely confused at what she had in her hand.

"Come on guys! At least a little chuckle!" Yang looked at Jaune, who just raised an eyebrow at her. "No?" Yang slumped down into her chair, cheeks puffing out glumly. "fine."

"Is something wrong Weiss? You've been looking at your cards for the last two minutes now." Jaune said, determined not to give an inch to the melodramatic Yang. Weiss just shrugged a little helplessly.

"I have no idea what's going on." Weiss admitted before laying down her cards. "Ruby's basically been playing for me since the beginning of the game." Ruby grabbed her cards.

"Well come on then! If you don't pay attention then you're never going to let me win—I mean win the game!" Ruby said hurriedly, before crying out happily.

"Ah ha! I—I mean, Weiss plays Sandstorm on Yang, which disables all of your ground forces! Now I can send my—Weiss's giant Nevermore in to ravage your kingdom!" Ruby said, intent on winning the game… for Weiss, of course.

Yang however, seemed unflappable, even a little bored. She turned a card that was face down on the board over.

"Thunderstorm." Yang said calmly. Ruby whimpered.

"No! That'll disable my Sandstorm and reduce the effectiveness of my Giant Nevermore by half!" Ruby said.

"And my turrets will shoot the rest of them down, thank you very much." Yang said happily. Ruby cried out and plopped back into her seat dejectedly. Weiss just looked at Ruby with a raised eyebrow, before placing her dropped cards onto the table delicately.

"I'll assume that I'm finished with my turn." Weiss said. Yang grinned.

"You bet your frilly little skirt that you are." Yang said, ignoring the cry of 'battle skirt!'. "And I'll gather all of my forces and attack… Vale!" Yang moved her armies to encroach on Ruby's lands.

"What? No! Why would you do this to your own sister?!" Ruby wailed.

"That's what you get for attacking me." Yang countered.

"But that was Weiss, not me!"

Yang just raised an eyebrow, making Ruby cross her arms and turn her head to the side. At that moment, Ruby looked like a complete mirror of an irritated Weiss. Jaune smiled at the image. It seems that as they spent hours and hours with their partners, the students here can't help but take on some characteristics of their other half. Jaune glanced at Pyrrha, who was still talking to Nora about something with a kind smile and a spark in her eye.

Yeah, Jaune guessed that he could still learn to act a little more like Pyrrha. Jaune put his hand of cards down.

"I think we're done for today." Jaune said humorously. The other three players set down their cards as well, deciding to use that time to jab at each other back and forth.

Jaune stood up and turned around before heading towards where Blake and Ren were, settling beside them.

He propped open _L'alchimie_ and continued to decipher the book, already four-fifths of the way finished.

It was surprising to say the least that all of his friends were quick to accept something as crazy as Alchemy into their lives. Then again, in a world where very little seems to be impossible, Jaune guessed that adding another impossibility wasn't that much of a stretch.

Jaune recalled their conversation from a few weeks back.

* * *

 **Around two weeks ago**

"What?" Weiss recoiled backwards after Jaune had finished describing his lost art. "That's impossible. I've never even heard of a thing called alchemy." Her tone of voice made it sound as if because she didn't know anything about it, no one should have.

Jaune raised an eyebrow and was quick to point that out.

"Just because you've never heard of it before doesn't really mean it doesn't exist. I mean, that would just be narcissistic now wouldn't it?" Jaune said with a hint of mockery in his voice. Weiss shook in outrage, ready to lambast Jaune to crisp for even considering something like that, but was quickly controlled by Ruby.

"I think the big question right now is can anybody use alchemy?" Ren asked calmly. Jaune nodded.

"Yes. But it's not easy. There's a lot of studying and chemistry involved before you can even start to try a simple transmutation—that's what performing alchemy is called, by the way." Jaune said. Nora was the one who asked the next question.

"So then, what's your semblance?" Nora asked curiously. Everyone else nodded along with her question. That's right. If alchemy wasn't a semblance, and Jaune had his aura unlocked, doesn't that mean that Jaune had a separate semblance to play off of?

Jaune could understand everybody's reasoning, and knew the answer, but was reluctant to tell them. Jaune wasn't sure he could relive his mistakes.

* * *

"Jaune?"

Jaune turned to Blake, who was looking at him.

"Is something wrong Jaune?" Blake asked. Jaune gave a soft smile, shaking his head softly.

"No, I'm just thinking about some things is all." Jaune said.

"Actually, I have a question, if that's alright with you." Ren said. Jaune nodded as a go ahead.

"You can transmutate anything, correct?"

"Almost everything. There are some things that have no equivalent exchange, or what is required to transmutate it would cost more than you could offer." Jaune corrected. Ren nodded.

"What are the examples of things you can't transmutate?" Blake asked.

Jaune shrugged.

"Generally the human body is hard to transmutate. There's always problems with doing anything related to that. And you guys know what happens when you try and make a human… well, you know." Jaune finished awkwardly, looking away from the two of them.

* * *

 **Two weeks back**

"I don't have a semblance anymore." Jaune started out saying. "I lost mine years ago… as a price."

No one understood what Jaune was trying to say.

"Price? Price for what?" Pyrrha asked. Jaune turned to look at her, his eyes dark.

"The price I paid… for trying to resurrect the dead." Jaune whispered.

* * *

Ren and Blake nodded in sympathy. Jaune didn't pause for too long, and continued to talk.

"Generally, alchemy can be used effectively against anything that's physical. If it's something more abstract… well, there's always something more that needs to be paid before the transmutation can be put into effect." Jaune explained. Ren and Blake nodded once again, their attention focused on Jaune.

"But why did you want to know Ren?" Jaune asked.

"Well, do you think there's a way to transmutate your aura?" Ren asked, straight to the point. Jaune blinked thoughtfully.

That didn't seem as far-fetched as one would think of it as. After all, if Jaune could transmute his semblance, couldn't that mean that Jaune could influence his aura as well?

* * *

 **Two weeks back**

"When I tried to bring back my grandfather, I was blasted with this light and brought in front of this huge gate." Jaune explained, gesturing a little vaguely in hopes of trying to mold the air into the shape of a gate.

"Next to me was a voice that kept laughing and laughing… saying something about how I tried to play God, and asking me if I had anything that could be traded for my grandfather's human soul." Jaune looked at his left hand, conflicted, before grabbing the glove and pulling it away, revealing his automail hand. Quiet gasps echoed around the room before they stared at the appendage.

"I lost my hand… my eye…" Jaune raised his hand up to touch his biotic eye. "And my semblance."

Eyes wide, Ruby asked the question that was on everyone's mind.

"How did you know?" Ruby whispered. Jaune looked sadly at his friends, recalling that day.

"Because I saw the Truth…. And the truth was…." Jaune shut his eyes tight, trying to hold back his emotions. "The voice told me that he would take away the things that would make me whole."

"That I would never be a true hunter after this."

* * *

"Hey." Blake said, drawing Jaune's attention again. Her voice was soft, and a little hesitant, as if she was scared of stepping over a line somehow. Jaune smiled reassuringly at Blake, happy to turn his attention away from a depressing memory. Blake rested a hand on Jaune's.

"You are a true hunter. Remember that Jaune." Blake said. Jaune didn't bother to say anything, instead covering her hand with his as a silent way of saying thanks.

"Aw, this is really sweet." Yang gushed, standing in front of them, practically cooing at the scene. Blake frowned at Yang, pulling back but maturely making sure that she wouldn't blush. Jaune didn't have any problem with that, seeing as how he wasn't really used to being in the center of attention, and blushed like an adolescent school girl.

"It just makes me wanna push you guys together and make you kiss." Yang teased, her hands on her hips, her smirk enormous. Blake crossed her arms at the statement, and raised an eyebrow, as if asking Yang if that was the best that she could do. Jaune simply buried his face in his hands, not sure how to deal with teasing, his snark not equipped to deal with this.

"Heck, maybe I should take everyone back to their rooms so that you two have some time alone to—"

"Yang! Stop teasing Jaune and Blake!" Ruby said, grabbing Yang by the ear and dragging her away. "Sorry about that guys! You know how Yang is. I'll take her down to cool off."

"Aw come on Ruby—ow, that hurts." Yang said, stumbling towards the rooftop exit. "I'll see you lovebirds later! Make sure to spend some time building your love nest and—Ow, Ruby that one _really_ hurt!" Yang said, before the doors closed and all that could be heard of Yang were some pained yelps as she was dragged back to her room for a lecturing.

"Well, now that the party seems to be over, I think I'll take my leave." Weiss said politely, standing up. Pyrrha nodded and grabbed Nora, hefting her upwards. "We'll take our leave as well."

And one by one, Jaune's friends filed out and left, chatting amongst themselves. The only people that were left was Ren, Jaune, and Blake. This was soon to change as Ren stood up as well.

"I think I will leave as well. Thank you for the recommendation Blake, I'll be sure to try the book out. And Jaune, could you please tell me sometime later if it would be possible?" Ren asked politely. Jaune nodded, his mind whirring at Ren's question.

As Ren left, Jaune turned to the person who seemed to be quickly becoming his closest friend.

And then there were two.

"So what do you think of Ren's question?" Blake asked. Jaune keep his gaze fixed at Blake, not really looking at her, but so focused on the question that Jaune didn't bother moving at all, letting all of his energy pour into his mind and turn the question over and over until he could find an adequate answer. Jaune sighed.

"I don't know." Jaune finally admitted. "I can't really think of—well. I mean." Jaune made a noise of frustration, brushing his hair to the side.

"Alchemy is a science, and deals with the physical world. Solid evidence and methodology is what rules the art, and it has a set of rigid rules that has to be obeyed because it's literally impossible to break them. And aura is… the furthest thing from scientific I can think of." Jaune said. "There's nothing tangible for me to observe, and there isn't really a sample that I can experiment with. I mean, I could use a person's aura to test out some theories, but if I make a mistake, I could render the person's aura useless—or worse. And the testing…" Jaune winced at the thought of the ways to yield results for something as vague as aura manipulation. "The testing would be inhumane."

Blake nodded, understanding the implications. With every word that Jaune said about alchemy, Blake grew more and more fearful about what would happen if it ever fell into the wrong hands. And the White Fang were far from the best hands.

"Another reason why alchemy is kept a secret then." Blake said. _And a reason to investigate further into the White Fang_ , Blake thought to herself.

"Exactly." Jaune agreed, nodding. "The potential of transmutating aura, something so intangible yet powerful would be… amazing. But the risk would be unbelievable." Jaune stared at his ungloved hands, one metal, the other flesh.

"It would take a certain kind of monster to explore the relationship of Aura and Alchemy."

* * *

Cinder sat in her makeshift office, reading over a few files and reports of how the Dust operations were going. A knock rang out on her door.

"Come in." She said loudly, shuffling the papers around carefully. Emerald entered through the door.

"Did you find anything on our mysterious-semblance boy, Emerald?" Cinder asked genially. Emerald stayed at the door, giving a little smile.

"Actually, yes." Emerald answered. Cinder raised a surprised eyebrow. She didn't expect her initial scouting to really yield results, seeing as how all Cinder had told Emerald and Mercury to do was ask around about Jaune and unusual happenstances.

"Really now? And what have you learned about him?" Cinder said.

"That he knows of alchemy." Emerald said, straight to the point. A stunned silence reigned in the room. Usually Cinder was happy to accept any information Emerald and Mercury gathered at face value, but the likeliness that anyone who knew anything about Jaune or alchemy would expose Jaune was…. Very unlikely at the best.

"Oh?" Cinder said carefully, setting aside the sheaf of papers, pulling out a pen. "And how did you come to this conclusion?"

Emerald's smile only grew sharper at the question.

"Actually, I thought you might want to hear it in person, so I brought him along." Emerald said airily, before grabbing someone waiting outside the door and pulling him into the sight of Cinder.

Cinder's smile grew deadly, and her shoulders relaxed, her body turning more and more sensual.

"Ah. You seem like just the type of person I was looking for." Cinder purred. "Maybe we could spend some time… talking?" With that, Emerald melted out of view and the boy nodded eagerly.

"I'd love to talk." Cardin said, happy that someone was paying the attention he deserved.

Cinder could only chuckle in happiness at her fortune.


	11. Setting up Plans

**A/N: Heyo! Itsa me, PotnPan, here to bring you another chapta! Lul, anyways, I _loved_ the feedback from last chapter, which was pretty much: 'W0t? Cardin's an #$(*!'**

 **I feed off this stuff, man.**

 **And again, sorry for the people who were mad at my shoehorning, _this_ was kinda what I was going for when I did that. **

**Guest: Hahaha, yeah, Cardin's not the sharpest mecha-shift weapon in the shed. And right now? Idunno. Officially, I've never heard it mentioned, so in _my_ headcanon, Aura activated = semblance, and ya kinda need an aura to well.. survive in a Hunter Academy... so. Yeah. **

**Cain: 1st off, Jaune has _no_ idea this is happening. 2nd off... well, you're not wrong. XD **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"You know, you're here so often that I'm starting to think you've forgotten how to get back to your own room." Yang said teasingly, looming over Jaune and Blake. Jaune gave a smile.

"Nah, I just secretly messing with your shampoo every time I come over." Jaune replied easily. Yang's smile morphed into an angry scowl, her finger poking Jaune's chest.

"Don't even joke about it lover-boy." Yang said, before moving over to her bunk and opening a drawer up. "What're you even doing here anyways?" Jaune and Blake looked at each other, quickly coming up with a cover-up story that would convince the nosiest of all their friends.

"Nothing." They both said simultaneously. Yang paused in her shuffling and stood up, turning to the two of them, who both had stoic expressions.

"Really? That's strange, 'cause you guys were whispering about something until I came." Yang said cynically. "Are you sure there's nothing you want to tell me?"

The two of them both shook their heads, a little frantically.

"Huh. Well, that's a great then." Yang said, tapping the bed frame thoughtfully. Blake glanced at Jaune nervously.

"Why's it a great?" Blake asked.

"Well, I was just thinking that if there's really nothing that you guys want to _include_ me in, I'm kinda free for today, and I would just _love_ to spend time with my partner and her boyfriend." Yang said happily.

"He's not my boyfriend." Blake said, rolling her eyes. Yang shrugged.

"So, what do you wanna do besties? Go to the mall? Go somewhere to eat? Spar until we all drop? Come on guys, I want to fill this whole entire day up with fun! We aren't going to stop until midnight!" Yang declared, her hands raised to the sky. Jaune and Blake looked at each other in mortification.

"Uh, actually Yang, Blake was going to help me." Jaune said, desperate to try and find a way to throw Yang off their scent.

"On what?" Yang asked, pretended to be interested.

"His schoolwork, what else Yang?" Blake said, inserting herself in before Jaune could shoot himself in the foot. "He hadn't really been focused in his studies, so I'm going to help him catch up with that." Jaune smiled at that. It wasn't a bad excuse.

"Oh, well, if he needs help, why doesn't he go to Weiss? You know she has the best notes, and she can definitely teach Jaune what he needs to know. I'll contact her now." Yang said, pulling out her scroll.

"Uh, you don't need to do that." Jaune said hurriedly, making Yang pause. Looking up from her scroll, she raised an eyebrow.

"Why not?" Yang asked. "Wouldn't that help?"

"Er, yes it would." Jaune said, floundering a little helplessly. "I just, uh, well—I'm more comfortable with Blake, and she knows her stuff too." Jaune said uncertainly. Blake wanted to smack him on the head, knowing that Yang wasn't going to buy something like that when Jaune was lacking so much confidence in his reasoning.

"Oh well that's fine, but you should really learn to socialize more too Jaune. And besides, wouldn't it be helpful to have two people who know what they're doing tutor you?" Yang asked, tapping away at her scroll.

"No really it's fine, maybe we can do that some other time?" Jaune asked weakly, trying to find a way to salvage the conversation. Yang glanced up at Jaune and Blake.

"Oh well, I've already messaged Weiss, so she'll be here in a minute anyways. Why don't you just try it out now, since she's on her way?" Yang asked.

This was starting to spiral way out of control.

"Well, we were kind of wanting to start it as soon as possible and we wouldn't want to—"

"Oh, well I got a message that someone needed my help in schoolwork?" Weiss said, timing her entrance almost too perfectly. Yang and Weiss looked at each other, trading inconspicuous looks before Weiss continued to talk.

"Well, rest assured, you are in no better hands than mine when it comes to school work. In about three or so hours minimum, we'll have you all caught up with the rest of us." Weiss raised her head haughtily. "And a Schnee never goes back on their word."

At this point, both Jaune and Blake were wilting like four week flowers.

"Wow, I mean three hours? Is that really necessary?" Jaune whimpered, his body feeling as if it should be sliding against the floor. Weiss nodded confidently.

"At minimum. If you are talented at studying. This could go on deep into the night however, but not to worry, one night of lost sleep won't kill us." Weiss declared. Again Jaune whimpered.

"Well, I was thinking that me and Jaune could go get some dinner before we started to work, and I know that the both of you have already ate so—" Blake started, trying another avenue of escape.

Alas, it was not meant to be.

Ruby popped through the door, arms laden with a tray full of food. The two prisoners groaned.

"H-hey guys, I was juuuust walking to the room and decided that maybe you guys needed some food so I went there and brought some out of my own thought and _not_ because we're trying to keep an eye on you or anything." Ruby said suavely. The other two that were trying to keep Jaune and Blake in the room groaned at Ruby's lack of acting.

"Thanks Ruby, _that_ wasn't a dead giveaway at all." Yang moaned dramatically, falling to the side while Weiss simply dropped the books she had in her hand back on her desk.

"It's not like you guys weren't as obvious." Jaune muttered under his breath. Whether Yang didn't hear what Jaune had said or simply ignored him wasn't known, as she turned to face the two of them, her face set in determination.

"Alright then, we'll cut to the chase." Yang said, her hands on her hips. "We know that you two have been planning on chasing down leads for the White Fang again, and we don't want you to do it."

The two of them wanted to protest, and were about to do it before Yang added onto her sentence.

"We don't want you two to do it alone." Yang finished.

Jaune and Blake settled back down, conflicted. While it was nice to see the all of them so determined, the two delinquents weren't sure if they wanted to drag Blake's team into trouble because of it.

"Guys, that's a really nice thought, but I'm sure we can handle it ourselves." Jaune said. Blake nodded as well.

Yang looked at the two of them before shrugging.

"Well, if you guys don't want us to help, I guess that's that." Yang said. The blonde and black haired pair lowered the shoulders a little, relaxing at the admission, if not a little surprised.

"But I guess the three of us will just have to start our own operation and try to find out as much about the White Fang as we possibly can." Yang continued casually. Blake winced at that, knowing fully well that the Ruby, Weiss, and Yang wouldn't know enough about the White Fang to get themselves out of the trouble that was sure to occur if they started kicking up a ruckus.

"But I don't think three people will be enough…" Yang said, her finger tapping rhythmically against her chin. "Maybe we ought to ask the rest of Jaune's team for help too."

This time it was Jaune who winced.

The reason why he was being so secretive in the first place was to reduce the amount of people involved in trying to uncover how alchemy was involved in this. Yang dragging them into this would defeat the painstaking efforts that Jaune had taken to try and keep his team out of this.

And with that, the two of them were caught, hook, line, and sinker. They deflated a little bit and gave out sighs of resignation.

"Alright then, I guess we could use the help." Blake admitted reluctantly. RWY all looked at each other in relief, Yang pumping her fist in celebration.

"Cool. What can we do to help?" Yang asked.

Blake and Jaune looked at each other.

"We need some information on the Dust that the White Fang are stealing. Maybe there's a specific pattern that's involved in this that we can look into." Jaune said. Weiss nodded.

"I can access the Scnhee database to look over all of the records over the last few months about the stolen Dust. Ruby can come with me." Weiss said, Ruby nodding excitedly beside her.

"I have information on a gathering of White Fang members that's happening tonight, so I guess I'll go there to see if there's anything I can get out of there." Blake said, nodding to herself. "Jaune can come with—"

"Actually," Yang jumped in, hooking her arm to grab Jaune by the neck, almost strangling him. "I think Jaune and I can go and hit up a place. I've got a friend that knows a bit of the underground, and I need some muscle with me."

"You need muscle?" Jaune wheezed out, before Yang tightened her grasp and cut off enough oxygen to prevent Jaune from saying anything else. Blake looked at Yang and Jaune, eyebrows lowering.

"Well, I could use some help too…" Blake started to say, before Yang held up her hand.

"That _is_ true, but is Jaune really going to be cut out for this? I mean, if you're infiltrating the White Fang, don't you need to be, I don't know, _faunus_ to do so? And Jaune's a lot of things, but he ain't a faunus." Yang reasoned. Blake's ears flattened.

"Then I guess I'm going there by myself." Blake said quietly. Once again, Yang held her hand out to stop Blake's train of thought.

"Oh come on Blakey, do you really think I'll send my partner into the White Fang without _some_ kind of backup?" Yang asked, before scoffing. "Please. I thought you knew I was better than that."

Blake raised an eyebrow in question, her stomach quick to tell her that whatever Yang had in mind was not going to be something that she would enjoy.

"What do you have in mind then?" Blake asked cautiously. Yang grinned at Blake and Jaune before pointing to the window behind them. Turning, the two of them were met with a full view of a shock of blonde hair, a sleek tail, and some very exposed abdominals.

As the two of them stared at what seemed like a monkey faunus hanging outside the tree branches outside their window, Yang went on to introduce them.

"Guys, meet Sun Wukong, whose a student from Haven. We met him after you guys left us at the docks when he was running away from the ship that he stowed away on." Yang said, summing up their first meeting quite neatly. "And he's a faunus." Yang added in helpfully, before walking up to the window and unlocking the frame, pushing it open for Sun to jump through.

Landing next to Blake, Sun gave a big smile to her, leaning forward a little.

"Hey there." Sun greeted, holding out a hand for Blake to shake. "I was told that there was a pretty girl—uh, I mean, pretty big problem that I could help you out with?"

Blake turned to Yang with an expression that could have only meant _You have got to be kidding me right now_. Of course, Yang just stood there, arms behind her back, her smile still very smug.

"So you're the fourth member of these lovely ladies, huh?" Sun asked, still smiling. "Well I can definitely say that you uphold the standards for beauty in this team." Blake forced out a smile and shook Sun's hand.

"Nice to meet you." Blake said politely. Sun simply smiled wider, hand clasped against Blake's a little longer than what was normally acceptable.

Something that was quickly fixed with Jaune clearing his throat angrily.

Sun pulled his hand back, turning to the fifth person that was in the room.

"Oh hey there. You're gonna be helping this girls out too? Nice to meet you." Sun said happily. Jaune held out his left hand to shake with, which Sun grabbed onto pretty quickly.

"Jaune." Jaune introduced himself shortly.

"Jaune huh? Pretty cool name. So where did Team RWBY get you from—yeeowch, wow! You've got one heck of a grip." Sun exclaimed, prying his hands out of the iron clutch of Jaune's hand.

Jaune smiled coldly back at Sun.

"They didn't pick me up." Jaune said, his tone filled with terrifying steel. "I picked them up."

And with that, Jaune turned and strode out of the room, leaving Team RWBY in utter shock.

Sun turned around to see their faces and gave a weak smile.

"I'm guessing that I didn't make the best impression?" Sun said, rubbing his hand.


	12. Heart to Heart

**A/N: Yay! So another chapter. And good news! I has beta, so... yay! Less mistakes!**

 **Cain: Yang _is_ having a field day! Literally! XD**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Beta: Prince of Austria**

* * *

"You're making a big deal out of nothing, you know that?" Yang teased Jaune.

Jaune, standing outside the school grounds next to an idle Bullhead arms crossed and leaning next to a light pole, turned his attention to Yang and frowned at her.

"What're you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about lover-boy," Yang continued. "Or should I call you jelly-boy?"

"I'm not jealous." Jaune said adamantly. "And I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Uh, huh." Yang raised a doubtful eyebrow. "And I'm not a gorgeous funny blonde."

"What? I didn't realize you consider what you say a 'sense of humor'." Jaune made invisible quotes around his words.

"Yeah yeah, very funny." Yang rolled her eyes before punching Jaune in the shoulder. He winced, knowing that she didn't hold back after taking offense to his verbal jab.

"Something wrong guys?"

Blake and Sun walked up towards Yang and Jaune, the pair of them holding onto crudely made White Fang masks. Well, Sun's looked crudely made, while Blake's didn't look like it had many flaws on it. Jaune assumed that it was her old mask from when she was a genuine member. He ignored any sinking feeling in his stomach as the two of them approached. Yang decided to answer for the two of them.

"Yeah there's a problem. Jaune doesn't think I have a sense of humor! I mean, that's just ridiculous right?!" Yang waved her arms around wildly.

"He _is_ right, you know?" Blake quirked a side of her mouth in a soft grin as Yang groaned and slumped downwards, cursing the world for going against her.

As the four of them stood together, they made sure that everyone understood what they were doing, and boarded the ship, Jaune looking very reluctant to go on, but knowing that it wasn't as if he could run there. Even if he wished with every fiber of his being that he could find a way to teleport to the places he needed.

Jaune was still working on that, not finding a suitable solution with alchemy.

And so, the rest of the journey in the Bullhead was summed up by Jaune placing his head in between his knees and trying not to throw up, while everyone else was either trying to comfort him or staying as far away from him as possible. Yang was also leery of Jaune, muttering "not again," every once in a while under her breath.

Jaune expressed his relief pretty openly when the Bullhead touched down, him sprinting as fast as he could off and throwing himself onto the floor, practically kissing it.

"Oh sweet ground, how I'll never leave you again…" Jaune whimpered, caressing the ground. Everyone else looked at him with amusement.

"You do realize that you're going to need to get back on after we're done here, right?" Blake asked, making Jaune groan.

"You guys go without me. I'll find climbing gear and scale my way back up." Jaune said. Everyone laughed, even though they weren't exactly sure if he was joking or not. They finally split into their pairs after Jaune picked himself up.

"Alright, so you guys know what you guys are supposed to do." Blake said seriously, waiting for them to nod their heads in affirmation. "We'll meet up back here at around ten. If there's any trouble, make sure to call it out on your scrolls. Is everyone good?"

With a synchronized nod, the pairs broke and went their separate ways, Jaune only glancing back once at the retreating form of Blake. He yelped when a strong arm looped around his neck and pulled him close, practically shoving his head into Yang's bosom.

"Don't you think it's a little rude to be looking at other girls when you're paired up with someone else, partner?" Yang said, aggressively holding onto Jaune. Jaune tried his hardest to wrest himself away from her grasp, but without knowing where to put his hands, his efforts were met with nothing.

"Yang—please, get off me," Jaune said, struggling not to just plant his whole head into the chest of the grinning girl.

"Aw, come on, isn't this something all boys dream of?" Yang said, before gasping at a sudden thought. "Unless—you aren't attracted to… you know?" Yang said, trailing off. Jaune's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion.

"What're you talking about?" Jaune asked, genuinely having no idea what Yang was trying to insinuate. Instead of explaining it to him however, Yang kept talking to herself.

"Oh my gosh, when I saw you react to Blake and Sun, I thought you were jealous of… but you were actually jealous of… Oh this makes so much more sense now! No wonder you aren't falling for me!"

"Yang, first off, I was not jealous, and second off, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Yang turned to Jaune with a sympathetic look on her face.

"Oh I'm so sorry Jaune. I wanted to pull something so that we could be partnered up so that I could talk to you about Blake, but I just pulled you away from a chance with Sun didn't I? No wonder you were so cold to him. I mean it all makes sense! You don't know how to interact with people, so of course you don't know how to flirt with him—"

"Whoa, wait, wait, wait," Jaune had to practically force his hands on top of her mouth to shut her up.

"First of all, just because I am bad at talking to people, doesn't mean it's not rude to say that. Second of all, what?! Are you implying that I'm gay?"

Yang tilted her head to the side, waiting for Jaune to withdraw his hands.

"You're not gay?"

"NO!"

"Oh...darn. That would have made so much more sense."

Jaune blinked.

"More sense than what?"

"More sense than the fact that you don't think I'm hot. I mean come on. Look at these puppies!" Yang pointed to her generous chest. Jaune made a pointed effort not to look at where she was gesturing, glared straight at her.

"I'm not gay." Jaune said slowly, making sure to keep his eye on Yang. Finally Yang gave up and relented.

"Fine." Yang puffed her cheeks out in indignation.

Finally, talkative Yang fell silent as the two of them continued to walk to the garage that Yang put Bumblebee in. There might not have been any talking, but dealing with Yang, even for a few minutes, made it so that Jaune kept his guard up. Because of this, Jaune was ready for when Yang decided to talk again.

"I don't know if you know this, but subtly planned it so that we could be partners for the day." Yang said out of the blue. Jaune's eyes were getting a little exhausted rolling at Yang's remarks.

"No Yang, you pulled that off with several strokes of genius. I doubt anyone would have been able to figure that out without you telling them." Jaune deadpanned.

Yang turned Jaune and grinned, ignoring the tone of sarcasm.

"Thanks. I knew I was doing something right, but I need to talk to you about Blake."

"Talk away." Jaune said, waving his permission with a careless flick of his hands.

Yang nodded thankfully at Jaune before pausing to gather her thoughts, a frown appearing on her face. She looked like she was uncomfortable with what she was trying to portray.

"Blake's my partner," Yang finally said. Jaune nodded. That much was obvious. "And it just feels…" Yang sighed. "It feels like we're not any closer than we were when we just first met."

Jaune didn't see the problem.

Well, yes, Jaune could see that lack of knowing your partner would be concerning, but Jaune wasn't sure why it was so hard for Yang to tell him that. After all, he and Pyrrha weren't all that close either, but were still functioning partners. Given, they've gotten better now that Jaune was making the effort to get to know her.

"Why are you telling me this?" Jaune asked, assuming that if he didn't get it, there wouldn't be a problem asking Yang to clarify.

"I don't like the relationship between you and Blake."

Oh.

"Why not?" Jaune demanded. He seemed to be doing a lot of that it seemed. But this one seemed a little more angry. Could anyone blame him though? "Shouldn't you be happy that we're opening up? We're telling you guys things that we would've never told anyone else." Why can't you guys be happy with that? Jaune wanted to ask, but held back in an attempt not to sound to accusatory.

"But that's just the thing." Yang shot back at Jaune. "You guys aren't sharing much. You guys are telling a few things. You're explaining the basics of alchemy and she's explaining the White Fang, but neither of you are explaining the personal side of it." With a glance, Yang could tell that Jaune didn't understand what she was getting at.

"You guys are telling us about one side of your secrets—the basic information. But you guys haven't talked about the most important things. Why the White Fang and alchemy are important to you guys." Yang pointed at his chest. "You can talk to us for hours about how alchemy works and the movements and goals of the White Fang, but it's not going really resonate with us until you guys tell us why this is important for you guys."

Jaune opened his mouth, ready to lambast Yang for saying something like that. He has told them about his personal side. So has Blake. Did they just not listen to what he was saying? And then he realized something.

He really _hadn't_ talked about his experiences to anyone but Blake. It was the same with Blake, and her past with the White Fang. They had talked a lot about their pasts, but only to each other.

Their teammates had gotten nothing.

Yang seemed to intuitively know that Jaune had reached that point, and continued to hammer her points into his skull.

"You guys talk to each other a lot. But in the end, this is just as bad as one of you guys keeping the secret and not telling anyone." Yang laid a hand on Jaune's shoulder, making him meet her in the eyes. "I know that you two are trying to open up and trust us, but it would really help if you decide that telling Blake isn't telling everybody, and the same with her."

And with that, Yang stopped talking, sliding her hand downward until it rested next to her side again.

"I know that this might be a little difficult for you guys, holding onto such secrets for a long time, but just think about it, won't you?" Yang asked kindly. Numbly, Jaune nodded.

Yang smiled in relief, glad that she was able to at least get the message through his head, and turned to look at the garage in front of them.

"Well, we're here." Yang declared simply, looking at the garage. Jaune didn't see anything special about it. Gray, drab, a pretty standard garage judging by the many garages that Jaune had judged in his lifetime.

Yang dug around until she procured a key, inserting into the base of the garage door and lifting it up, revealing a sleek black and yellow motorcycle. Giggling excitedly, Yang approached it almost caringly.

"Aw, who's missed you baby? I did, yes I did," Yang cooed, making Jaune step back slightly in amusement. Walking to the side, she grabbed a spare helmet lying on a nearby bench and tossed it to Jaune, who caught it.

"Come on," Yang said, putting on her helmet and tossing a leg over the bike. "Let's ride."

Jaune grinned and slid on the helmet walking up to the bike before realizing something. He was going to be riding a motorcycle with Yang, one of the most reckless people he knew… and he had motion sickness.

"Uh...Yang? H-how do you usually d-drive?" His voice muffled by the helmet. Yang just grinned mischievously at Jaune.

"Hard and fast baby."

Jaune whimpered in fear.

* * *

"I… hate… your guts." Jaune panted, doubled over and trying his very hardest not to throw up. Or at least, if he was going to throw up, ready to aim it at Yang. Yang was chuckling to the side of Jaune, happy to throw him around for the heck of it.

"Oh come on Jaune, it wasn't all that bad. I even held back for you." Yang said, before adding, "Oh and if you throw up on me or my baby I'm killing you. Messily."

Jaune groaned and straightened back up, taking slow deep breaths to control himself.

"Okay. I'm good now." Jaune said, straightening his ruffled clothing, as well as Crocea Mors. Double checking that everything was covered, he walked towards Yang, who turned and led him towards a pair of doors.

With a grand sweep of her hands, Yang knocked the doors open and revealed a lit bar that was half full of patrons.

"Hey hey Junior! Guess who's back?" Yang said loudly, giving the whole room a big grin. The room froze at the sight of her, which wasn't an uncommon thing to do anyways, and in faster time that Jaune ever thought possible, cleared out the whole bar so that it was only Jaune, Yang, the bartender, and a pair of twin girls with a color scheme similar to Ruby and Weiss.

The bartender, who Jaune guessed was Junior, glared at the girl. "What're you doing here? You goin' to trash the place again?" He said bitterly. Yang kept her easy going smile.

"Oh come on buddy. That's no way to treat a friend. I'm just here to ask a few questions."

As the two bantered back and forth, the two girls stalked towards the lone Jaune, who could see it happening, but wasn't sure what to do about it.

"Hello there." One of them said quietly, trailing her fingers across his shoulders. "How very nice to meet you, I'm Melanie."

"And I'm Militia," The other one cooed, also circling around Jaune. "And what would your name be?"

Jaune turned his head frantically to try and track the two girls, not sure it would be wise to let them out of his sights.

"I'm, uh, Jaune. Jaune Arc." He said, swiveling around.

"What a dashing name." Militia said, getting very close to Jaune, fingers touching his cheeks. "Me and my sister would love to get to know you better. Why don't we go somewhere a little more private and… talk?"

Ignoring the sudden excitement of mini-Jaune, big-Jaune shook his head.

"That's really nice and uh, flattering, but I'm kind of here with someone. But not like that, we just need to talk to the boss about some things and—Yang help me here!" Jaune said desperately, looking over to the girl leaning on the bar table. She turned to look at the situation before grinning at Jaune and giving him a wink, turning back to Junior.

Ignoring the protests of how that didn't help him at all, Yang returned to her conversation.

"Now Junior, I just wanted to come over and ask if there's been anything that's happening on your side of the world that's a little bit… strange." Yang asked, placing her hands casually on the table, showing off her matching golden bracelets. Junior glanced down at the objects and sighed, already having enough bills that his insurance had to pay for.

I mean, does anyone know exactly how expensive it is to cover damage to your nether regions?

"I haven't heard much," Junior answered her, leaning a little closer. "But there has been something weird going on with a lot of the… seedier businesses. They say that there's a new boss in town that's asking for a bit of lien as protection. Anyone who doesn't pay seems to just… vanish. But that's not the weirdest thing." Junior added, leaning even closer.

"There's been a lot of disappearances that are kind of… random. People are starting to just vanish. Mob bosses, mercs, some of my goons… people are just disappearing from the streets." Junior said.

"And they say that the only thing they have in common is that there's always sightings of a women dressed in red." Junior shook his head. "It's like a freaking horror show, that's what it is."

Yang frowned a little, not sure if that was something she needed to know or not. She didn't think that it involved their search for the White Fang. With a resigned sigh, Yang thanked Junior and turned around, bursting into a belly laugh at the predicament of Jaune.

Somehow, the twins had gotten a way to get Jaune out of his hoodie and were working on his pants, throwing him off by paying attention to the metal arm and complimenting his lean body. Jaune, despite his valiant efforts, was completely red in the face and slowly losing the battle of trying to keep his pants on.

"Yang help me!" Jaune pleaded. Finally Yang gave in and moved to intercept the two girls.

After all, she wouldn't want to spoil anything for Blake now would she?

* * *

"You're the worst." Jaune grumbled, pulling on his hoodie as they walked out of the bar. Yang grinned at him and punched him on the shoulder, causing him to wince in pain.

"Aw, you know you love me." Yang said happily. Jaune sighed, shaking his head.

"Well, I'm glad this is done though. I wanna go home and sit and not do anything crazy for the rest of the day." Jaune rolled his arms around. Yang laughed at Jaune.

"Ha! You really think we're gonna have a chance to take a breather like that? Come on Jaune, you gotta remember who we are." Yang puffed her chest out proudly. "We're Hunters and Huntresses! Nothing ever goes right for us!"

Jaune face-palmed at the show Yang was putting on.

"That's not really something we should be bragging about." Jaune said. "And besides, even Hunters get breaks right?"

"Mayday, help! Sun and I really need some help right now!" Jaune and Yang's scrolls burst into life. "We're being chased by a giant robot!"

Yang turned to Jaune with a smug grin.

 _I am never going to live this down_. Jaune thought to himself miserably.


	13. Everybody Loves Robots

**A/N: Not much to be said... enjoy :)**

 **Cain: Never ever ever ever ever ever ever…. Ever.**

* * *

 **Beta: Prince of Austria**

* * *

 _Why did I ever think this was a good idea?_ Jaune thought helplessly.

Yang raced through the city at top speed, weaving in and out of traffic in an effort to reach the rampaging giant Paladin that was chasing after Blake and Sun. Jaune tried to hold on as best he could, hoping to anything that he wouldn't just simply fall off and shred his face against the concrete.

Yang took another sharp turn, veering into the highway as the Paladin jumped there as well, along with the two Faunus students. Fighting valiantly on the roof of several cars, Blake and Sun fired a few rounds into the Paladin before realizing that their bullets weren't going to make much more than a dent in the armor.

Thus so they resorted to melee, using their eerily similar semblances to keep Roman off balance and making it difficult for him to hit them on top of the moving vehicles.

"Come on you brats, stand still and make this easy for me." Roman was trying to trace the agile forms before giving up and grabbing a nearby vehicle, tossing it overhand to block any other car from getting ahead of the road, effectively also stopping the cars that Blake and Sun were on.

In that instant, the two of them dived behind the many cars before Roman started to unload bullets into the cars, trying to get a lucky shot in.

Finally, Yang was able to catch up, parking as quickly as possible before flinging herself towards the giant robot, screaming the whole way. Roman turned the contraption to see the Huntress, before slinging an arm out and backhanding her aside.

"Hnnnngh."Jaune wheezed, trying to catch his breath, not faint, and not throw up all at the same time after getting off of Bumblebee. "Note to self: do not fling yourself towards the giant death robot."

However useless that attack was, it gave Blake and Sun the opportunity to advance forward, banging on the metal with their weapons…which did almost nothing to the robot. With another turn, Roman faced the two figures, weapons akimbo. It didn't take long for them to figure out that while their weapons were essentially useless against the Paladin, the Paladin's weapons were very effective towards them.

Roman made short work of the pair, smacking Sun aside and causing Blake to run back into cover.

"Alright...so sticks and stones don't seem to work," Jaune said to himself, before kneeling and clapping his hands together. "Let's see if this will."

Placing his hands onto the ground, Jaune concentrated intensely, thinking of the composition of the object he needed to make.

After a few seconds, Jaune held up a bullet that was almost the length of his hand, filled with a fun combination of various chemicals that he had concocted himself. With another quick transmutation, Jaune held up his sheath, which he had transformed into a makeshift gun.

Inserting the bullet into the chamber, Jaune held up the gun and lined up his sights, making sure to place the stock of the weapon onto his left shoulder, so that his automail could support the recoil.

Jaune squeezed the trigger and braced himself, the recoil punching him in the shoulder, causing him to wince a little. The bullet flew true though, and struck the Paladin, piercing through and blasting off one of its arms.

Roman turned to see Jaune.

"Huh. I was aiming at the pilot, but I guess I'll take what I can get." Jaune muttered, before diving out of the way when Roman unloaded his other arm at Jaune.

"That was pretty nice, kid." Roman said. "But you'll have to forgive me, 'cause two arms aren't the only thing this robot has!"

With a few flicks and presses of switches and buttons, Roman revealed an array of missiles, several of which promptly flew towards Jaune.

"Oh. Well, shit." Jaune said before hastily trying to pull something out of his sleeve. The best he could do with such a short time was to pull up a flimsy barricade, which stopped a few of the missiles, but crumbled away after that and allowed the rest of the missiles to come through.

And here lies Jaune, someone who never wanted to be in Beacon in the first place! His mind screamed, closing his eyes.

Loud explosions went off very close to him, but for some reason, he didn't find himself dramatically thrown back like they show in all of those movies that he watched on his scroll. Opening his eyes, he found a glyph that slowly decayed into nothing in front of him, having blocked the missiles that were going towards him. Jaune turned to face Weiss and Ruby, both breathing heavily.

"Oh come on." Roman whined, seeing the two girls as well. "Two was fun, four got a little annoying, but six of you guys? I'm starting to think I've got a fan club after me."

Everyone ignored the complaining that was coming from Roman, as Jaune greeted the girls.

"Hey. What took you guys so long?" Jaune asked. Ruby and Weiss kept trying to regain their wind, Ruby bending over, propping herself up with her hands on her knees.

"Apparently… Last… Bullhead was… leaving… had to run… really fast." Ruby gasped out, before pulling herself up and sucking in a huge lungful. "And I mean really fast. Like, as in, fast for me. And I had to carry Weiss!" Ruby placed a hand to the side of her mouth, stage whispering. "Trust me; she is heavier than she looks." Weiss shouted a small 'Hey!' that everyone seemed to ignore. As crazy of a scenario as this might have been, Jaune couldn't help but laugh at Ruby's antics.

"That was not funny." Weiss said, reprimanding Jaune before turning to Ruby. "And I am not that heavy! I only weigh—"

"Ahem." Roman said, clearing his throat to try and attract their attention. "As much as I would love to stand here all day and listen to all of your sickeningly cute banter, I kind of have a schedule that I need to get back on, so… yeah." Roman said, before raising the Paladin's only arm and letting it fire at the three standing there.

Before any bullets could really fire though, a blonde figure jumped and latched onto the arm, wrenching it aside.

"No one shoots at my baby sister unless I give them explicit permission to!" Yang howled, before punching at the arm with her gauntlets, bending the metal. Roman yelped and shook the Paladin's arm like it was trying to get rid of a fly. Blake took this opportunity to jump onto the helm of the robot and take a few slashes at the glass, trying to break it but only managing to scratch it a little.

Roman creased his forehead in annoyance as Ruby also started to shoot at him.

"Alright now kiddies, playtime's over, so if you could all just kindly get OFF!" Roman shifted and made the Paladin shake, moving unpredictably enough to throw both Yang and Blake off before unloading bullets and missiles towards Ruby, Weiss, and Jaune.

Without being sure that she had enough energy to block everything, Weiss told them all to take cover, each of them diving behind something to avoid getting turned into grilled cheese.

"You know, you've got your whole team here. Don't you guys have some kind of plan that can help us out?" Jaune asked. Ruby looked helplessly at Jaune.

"Not really?" Ruby said, more of a question than an answer.

"Really?" Jaune asked with raised eyebrows as Weiss whipped her head around, glaring at him.

"As a matter of fact, I just remembered, of course we have a plan to attack a giant robot. We reviewed it a few weeks ago, remember?" Weiss asked sarcastically to Ruby, who hesitated at the question.

"I don't really remember talking about—" Ruby replied back.

"It was a rhetorical question you dunce." Weiss shot back, before wincing at a particularly close explosion to the right of her.

Jaune was a big believer of sarcasm, but even he didn't think that now was an appropriate time to use it.

"Alright then, don't you guys have something that you all can use?" Jaune asked again.

"We would if we had all four team members together at some point in time!" Ruby said, before actually looking a little miffed at Jaune. "But there's always someone doing something, like trying to do research on the White Fang with someone that's not part of her team, and that makes everyone else have to wait until she comes back, and then it's like 'ooh no, I can't I'm too tired from being with Jaune all day!'" Ruby said, half-screaming by the end of that.

Jaune blinked slowly, admitting that, while a tad bit overdramatic, Ruby was kind of right.

"Wow." Jaune said, not sure if there was anything else to say.

Ruby calmed down a little, her chest slowly rising and falling. "Sorry, I'm just a little stressed that we're facing a giant robot and we have no idea how to beat it."

"Yeah, that would make anybody a little stressed."

"Wha- Blake? How'd you get here?" Jaune asked, surprised that she was hiding behind the same burning car that they were.

"I got Sun to be a distraction." Blake said, pointing at Roman's Paladin, which was being attacked from different sides from Sun's clones.

"Hey! And that hat looks like it belongs on the head of clown!" Sun called out, dodging another annoyed punch. "But then again, maybe it's right where it belongs!"

"HAH! That was a good one!" Yang said, also in on the distraction. "You're such a clown." Sun laughed at that, before getting hit by a swinging metal arm.

"Huh." Jaune said, looking at the 'fight'. "I guess he's good for something after all."

"We need a plan." Blake said quietly, looking at the other three hidden behind the wreckage. Jaune nodded, trying to think of a suitable plan that they could feasibly pull off.

"How hard do you think it is," Jaune said slowly, capturing everyone's attention. "for something with one arm to stand back up after its fallen?" The other three turned to look at each other, before giving Jaune a grin and springing into action.

"Yang!" Blake cried out, flinging out Gambol Shroud's ribbon. Yang turned around and caught it deftly in her hands, but stared, confused at what Blake wanted her to do.

With another second, Weiss sprung into action, switching Myrtenaster to her ice cartridge and covering the floor underneath the Paladin with a thick sheet of ice.

"Oh. Okay." Yang said, understanding what was happening right now. Jumping into action, Yang surged forward under the legs of the robot and skated around the right one, spinning the ribbon a few times around, then jumping off the ice and running towards Blake. Blake also ran in the same direction, trying to pull the leg out from under Roman. It was slow work, and Roman resisted the whole way, even as Ruby fired off a few shots in hopes that it would be enough to tilt the thing backwards.

"Oh come on now, do you really think that this would work—" Roman said contemptuously, before a huge pillar of the road rose up and smashed against the Paladin, finally causing it to fall onto the floor.

Jaune rose up from his kneeling position, grinning at the fallen robot.

Roman twisted and turned the Paladin helplessly before ejecting the front out and climbing out of the robot, wincing.

"I swear it's like you guys are stalking me." Roman said, straightening out his clothes. "Hmpf. Just had this dry-cleaned." Turning to look at the damage done to the Paladin, he turned back to look at Jaune.

"So you're the magical Alchemist, huh?" Torchwich said, glancing up and down at the slim figure. "I almost feel sorry for you kiddo."

With that, Roman turned away and tried to leave, only to be surrounded by the rest of the group. Slowly, the six of them closed in around him, cutting off all avenue's of escape. Roman looked around before raising an eyebrow.

"Y'know, this would work out pretty nicely if it wasn't for something like… oh, what was it I had up my sleeve again? Oh that's right!" With a snap of his fingers, Neo appeared behind him, waving at them all before grabbing Roman and shattering into pieces with a parting wink towards Yang.

The six of them stood there, surrounded by fire and broken vehicles, angry, frustrated, and a little annoyed that Roman had once again slipped out of their grasp.

"We really need to stop forgetting about that chick." Jaune said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

And the day had started off so well.


	14. A Friendly Hand

**A/N: Hehe, this took forever to revise. Hopefully, it's up to snuff with everyone's expectations... if not... Blame my beta! XD jk.**

 **Dylan: I don't know if you're still reading, but I'm just going to suggest you think about canon Jaune's behavior. Remember that he doesn't tend to ask for help until after Forever Fall, and that was because of the incident. He's just a tad bit prideful. In my story though, there's even something to back up why he's so prideful.**

* * *

 **Beta: Prince of Austria**

* * *

"You know, most people try to avoid getting sent to the Headmaster's office." Ozpin said in amusement, looking at the figures sitting before him.

Jaune and Blake were once again sitting in seats that were starting to feel very familiar to them. Along with them however, was the rest of the gang that fought with the robot. Even Sun was standing to the side, looking a little sheepish

"Now, there are few things that make me prouder than seeing my students leap in and fight against the wrongs of the world with such passion that you all show." Ozpin said, sipping from his cup. The group shifted a little, surprised that Ozpin seemed to be complimenting them.

"But this was not the case when you guys decided to fight Roman in a crowded highway." The headmaster continued calmly, crushing the students' dreams of getting off with a light punishment. He continued.

"I understand that you all thought you were doing the right thing. But if you think about it, what is the goal of a Hunter?"

The room was quiet, before Weiss decided to bite, not wanting to leave the question unanswered.

"It's to protect the innocent, sir." She answered quietly. The gray haired headmaster nodded, taking another sip of drink from his mug.

"And let me ask all of you. Would fighting a Paladin, one of the sturdiest, most dangerous robots available to the military in a crowded highway, full of civilians without Aura, protecting the innocent?" Ozpin looked around the room with a stern eye, settling his gaze on each and every one of them, who seemed to be very eager to look at anything else besides the headmaster.

"No," Headmaster Ozpin said, answering his own question. "It was not protecting the innocent. In fact, there are phone calls that I need to make now, several of them to hospitals with patients caused from your recklessness." He looked over his nose, his gaze above his glasses. "And some of them to their families."

With that, everyone flinched visibly, as if the headmaster had cracked a whip right across their faces. Ozpin let that sink in for a little before continuing.

"You all are still very young. I understand that you think you are all invincible, and cannot be killed. Perhaps you are right. But perhaps you shouldn't only be thinking about yourselves."

Each and every word that he spoke seemed to cut deeper and deeper into them all, knowing that every word was true. All the deaths that were caused by Roman were inevitably their faults.

The headmaster sighed, not even able to pull the strength to take another sip from his mug. Ozpin laid his hands on the desk, fingers spread.

"I'm going to give everyone here a separate punishment." Ozpin said, thinking aloud. "As much as I do not want to, as I'm sure you didn't mean to harm any innocents, I need to. At the very least, it will lower the outrage that the council and the civilians are giving me." The group nodded, expecting as much. It would have been foolish to hope the headmaster would let them get away scot free.

Finally, Ozpin leaned back in his chair, swiveling so that it faced away from them.

For once, the silent Professor Goodwitch stood to the side and waited for Headmaster Ozpin to finish speaking before chiming in.

"I think you all should go back to your rooms, and reflect on your actions." Glynda said, her voice soft, a contrast from her usual harsh tone and strict attitude. With numb nods, the students filed out of the room and into the elevator, where they all rode down in silence.

Without another word, they all filtered into their dorms and went to their beds, numb.

* * *

Cinder frowned at her scroll, unhappy with the results. Roman was standing in front of her, sweating bullets and trying to play it cool.

"Let me get this straight," Cinder said in a calm voice, "you werer fighting against… first-year, Hunters-in-training, that had absolutely no coordination whatsoever… and you were still beaten?"

Roman gave a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Now now, Cinder, I know I didn't really live up to your expectations but—"

A resounding crash caused Roman to shriek and fall onto his bottom as he pushed himself as far away from the livid Cinder as possible. Quicker than the eye could see, Cinder was on top of him, a hand wrapped around the throat and her nose inches away from his.

"I warned you already about what would happen if you failed me again, didn't I?" Cinder whispered, her voice sleek and malicious. If Roman had any less self-respect for himself, and if he wasn't wearing an expensive suit, he probably would have pissed himself at that point.

"Cinder, please—" Roman croaked out, before Cinder's hand tightened, cutting off his breathing.

"Shh…" Cinder traced a finger on his chin, down towards his chest, before pulling up her dress and revealing a deadly looking knife. "This will be much more painless if you don't struggle."

Cinder whipped out the knife and plunged it down.

"Probably." Cinder added in over Roman's scream.

* * *

Jaune would be the first person to admit it, but he wasn't a social person.

Being traumatized at such a young age, as well as being isolated from almost all human life except his dad and sisters didn't really encourage an extroverted personality.

When he first entered Beacon, it took all of his friends a while to realize that he was even more awkward than Ruby was, and even absolutely didn't care that he was that way. His teammates learned that Jaune wasn't trying to ignore them when he stopped answering questions, and he didn't do homework because he was raised to put aside anything that he thought wouldn't help him.

Jaune knew that he struggled trying to connect with everyone, even the reclusive Blake. He tried his hardest to change himself.

But for once in his life, he was grateful that he was like that.

When everyone finally arrived at their dorms, Jaune didn't bother saying anything, stripping himself of his armor and throwing Crocea Mors to the side, not wanting to look at another weapon for the rest of the day.

Falling onto his bed, Jaune stared at the ceiling, contemplating Headmaster Ozpin's words.

To be honest, Jaune wasn't exactly sure why he was feeling this way. After all, he had personally killed someone (he would always remind himself that it wasn't really alive to begin with) and witnessed things worse than a few thrown around cars. Jaune hadn't even seen anyone die!

But deep in his belly Jaune could feel this sick, nauseous feeling gathering inside of him, and blocking his esophagus. He wanted to throw up. Lifting up his hands, Jaune pulled the glove off of his automail hand, staring at it.

 _I threw myself into the secrets of Alchemy to try and right my wrongs._ Jaune thought to himself. "But why does it feel like I'm making things worse?"

Jaune could feel the despair, which was a constant force inside of him, bubble a little more violently, rise a little higher than before.

Brief thoughts of fading away appeared in the forefront of his mind.

Closing his eyes, Jaune took a deep breath, trying to remember why he stayed.

 _There are things that I still need to do before I go._

And with that resolve back in place, Jaune shifted off of his bed, walking towards his desk to grab _L'Alchemie_. The feeling of guilt never really went away for Jaune, but he knew how to deal with it effectively for the time being.

"Where are you going Jaune?" Pyrrha asked. Jaune turned around to see his three teammates, all of them looking a little tired. After Jaune had explained what had happened earlier, the three of them were incredibly supportive, trying to convince Jaune that without him there would have been worse casualties. Jaune appreciated their input, but deep inside, he knew that he was at fault.

Ignoring the urge to snap at Pyrrha and tell her to mind her own business, Jaune answered her, reminding himself that they were his friends now, and friends should try and have some level of communication with each other.

Or at least, that's what he's been told.

"I'm going to the headmaster's office again. I need to return this." Jaune said, holding up the worn book again. Pyrrha nodded, hesitating for a second.

"If you want, maybe I could accompany you?" Pyrrha asked quietly.

Jaune looked down at the book, and looked back up at Pyrrha. A part of his mind screamed against the idea, wanting to go alone so that he could have some time to vent by himself. Another part of his mind, smaller, but growing larger by the day, seemed to want Pyrrha to come, as if craving another human's company.

"…Okay." Jaune said slowly, finally succumbing to the temptation of not being alone in his thoughts.

"Wonderful!" Pyrrha said, smiling a bit before hopping off of her bed and following Jaune, who headed out of their room. Before they could leave though, Pyrrha grabbed onto Jaune's arm.

"Wait a second. Isn't this book supposed to be kept a secret?" She asked. Jaune nodded, a little confused as to why she brought that out. Pyrrha smiled, and asked politely if she could see the book for a second, which Jaune reluctantly gave to her.

Taking the book gingerly, she went over to her side of the room and brought out wrapping paper, carefully hiding the book and turning it into what looked like a present. Holding it out to Jaune she gave a shy smile.

"There, now it's safe to go around with it."

Jaune raised an eyebrow and gave an amused snort. Kept under wraps it was. With that, the two of them headed to the headmaster's office.

Jaune didn't actually have too much to worry about, as the conversations that the two of them had were short, and avoided the topic of earlier today. They talked about things like classes, and the next trip to Forever Falls, as well as the Vale Tournament, which seemed to be getting closer and closer every single day.

"Yeah, I think you could probably win the whole thing," Jaune said, nodded. "I mean, you are the four time champion—"

"Oof!"

Jaune backpedaled a little bit as a girl bumped into him, falling backwards.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Jaune said, hands in the air, but not exactly sure what to do. He looked frantically at Pyrrha who gestured at him to offer a hand back up.

"Are you alright?" Jaune asked, holding out a hand for her to grab. Nodding her head, the girl grinned and grabbed on, pulling herself up.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine—wow you've got quite the grip there—it was my fault I wasn't paying attention." She said genially. "Thanks for helping me back up though."

"No problem." Jaune smiled easily back, glad that he had practiced smiling in the mirror so that he didn't look awkward, although judging by the strange look the girl was giving to him, he still hadn't really mastered it.

"I'm Emerald by the way," the girl said, shaking his hand now. "I'm a transfer over at Mistral." Jaune nodded, struggling to try and recall proper etiquette.

"Uh, cool. I'm Jaune. Arc. I come from, uh.. well here, seeing as how I'm wearing the uniform and I didn't steal it, hah hah…" Jaune gave a weak laugh before deciding to shut up at that point, knowing that speaking for any longer would only dig a deeper hole for Jaune.

"Well it was nice meeting you Jaune, but I've gotta scram and—woah!" Emerald exclaimed, her eyes widening as she leaned to the side.

"What's that?" Emerald asked, her eyes lighting up curiously. She leaned a little to the left to spot the wrapped up book in Jaune's hands. "That's an interesting wrapping for a book. Are you giving someone a book as a present?"

Jaune's hands tightened around the tome, before his mind raced to try and figure out an excuse to give the emerald eyed transfer student. "I-uh, yeah. It's an old book so I'm just covering it up and some people like old books so that's why I'm… giving it away… as a… present."

Emerald seemed to almost squeal and held out her hands. "Oh I just love old books! What's it called? I would love to see what it's about."

This was starting to disorient Jaune, and a disoriented Jaune was a Jaune that liked to revert back to his old ways.

"No." Jaune said shortly, before wincing at the sudden harshness of the tone. Emerald heard it as well, holding up her hands and backing away.

"Whoa, hey, I got it man, no worries."

Jaune felt like such an ass for saying that.

"Sorry. It's just. Kind of important to me… to give to the person…. and it's falling apart and I don't want people to really touch it… and stuff." Jaune ended lamely, showing her the wrapped up book. Emerald nodded enthusiastically.

"I get it. Sure thing. So why're you walking around with it then?" Emerald asked casually.

For a second, it seemed as if Jaune's immense paranoia flared up, causing his breath to leave and the only thing on his mind to be trying to get as far away from the green haired girl as possible.

"Yeah, actually, I was going to give this to the person now. It was nice meeting you, uh, Emerald. I'll see you around." And with that, Jaune brushed passed her and continued on his way, leaving Pyrrha behind to apologize to Emerald.

"I'm sorry about that. Jaune isn't very good at talking to people." Pyrrha said, offering an apologetic smile. Emerald waved the apology away.

"Don't worry, I'm happy just meeting him." Emerald waved Pyrrha goodbye before heading downstairs towards Cinder's office, smiling softly. "I'm sure we'll meet again quite soon."


	15. A Change of Plans

**A/N: So another week, another chapter. Erm. Not much to say about this chapter.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Beta: Prince of Austria**

* * *

Jaune cracked open the next book in the series of books that he needed to translate for the headmaster. This one was a more recent work, actually written in an older dialect of the Valean tongue. This was something that should take an even shorter time than it took for him to translate _L'alchemie_. In fact, Jaune could easily skim through the writing and get the gist of it, seeing many repeated ideas that he wouldn't have to write again after translating the first book. Unfortunately, the book (roughly translated to _The Compendium of Alchemy_ ) was almost twice as large as the first one, so Jaune didn't hesitate to plow through the tome.

With his full concentration, Jaune flipped through several pages within minutes, eyes flying left and right as he absorbed the knowledge, jotting down notes in a concise manner, still encoded in his own cipher.

As he flipped to the next page, he paused, looking at the picture that was carefully drawn on the sheet of paper.

A stone was marked there, and below it, a name for the stone. A philosopher's stone.

Reading intently, Jaune started to decode the message that was written before him. A stone that could grant immortality… and break the laws of conservation that alchemy so revered. Jaune's eyes widened.

Almost frantically, Jaune continued reading, understanding the capabilities of what the stone could create. He stopped reading, leaning back against his chair and pulled off his glove, staring at his metallic hand.

Finally, something that could bring everything back to the way it was…

But something was missing.

Again Jaune dove into the works, flipping back and forth to try to find the key information that he needed. But no matter how carefully he looked through the pages, he couldn't find what he was looking for.

How do you make a philosopher's stone?

Jaune grit his teeth in frustration, knowing that he had found something that could be used to reach the goal he had set up so many years ago, but was still out of his reach. Setting down his pen, Jaune slammed the book shut and slid open his drawer, placing the book there before sealing the desk completely with a clap of his hands.

Turning, Jaune was met with Blake, who was just standing in front of his doorway with a curious expression on her face.

"…What?" Jaune asked guardedly, not sure why she was blocking the doorway. Blake continued to stay silent for a minute before speaking up.

"Pyrrha called me over. She said something about how you weren't responding to anything they were saying." Blake said quietly.

"Oh." Jaune said. There wasn't much he could say to that. When he was in his 'scholar mode' there wasn't much that could snap him out of his funk. Jaune had the grace to look a little sheepish, rubbing the back of his neck and turning away from Blake.

"Sorry. I was just reading something interesting—which I actually need to follow up with now, so if you'll excuse me," Jaune tried to go around Blake, who didn't even bother moving from where she was standing. Jaune circled around her uselessly, before giving out a sigh and settling down on a nearby bed.

Seeing Jaune sit down, Blake uncrossed her arms and adopted a less harsh attitude, curious about what got Jaune in such a focused state.

"Is it about the new book you got from Professor Ozpin?" Blake asked, walking over to sit next to Jaune. He scooted over a bit to give a bit of room for her, and nodded.

"Yeah. It had something interesting that I, uh, need to follow up on." Jaune said, brow furrowing at the thought. He stood up again, only for Blake to grab him by the wrist and pull him back down onto the bed. Jaune adopted a pout that Ruby so often used, in hoping that it would sway Blake like it does with Weiss when Ruby uses it. Blake's bow twitched a little in amusement, as she quirked the side of her mouth into an amused grin.

"You do realize that you aren't anywhere near cute enough to do that, right?"

Jaune sunk down a little more, his pout turning a little more natural. "Well, it didn't hurt to try." He said childishly. Blake couldn't help but give a bit of a chuckle, happy that Jaune was replying with a bit of his humor. He hadn't been joking around as much for the past few days. With the thought of that, Blake sobered up a little bit, staring intently at Jaune.

Jaune on the other hand, was appreciative of Blake's attempt to pay attention to him, and couldn't help but notice that she still hadn't let go of his wrist. Trying not to think too much of it, Jaune casually pulled his hand up, causing Blake to notice and let go, her hands resting on her lap.

Silence hung around both of them, not uncomfortable, but a smidge off from being comfortable. Blake glanced at Jaune again, trying to get back on track.

"You know, everyone's been hurt by what happened a few days ago," Blake started off seriously, catching Jaune wince. "But that doesn't mean you have to bury yourself in work to distract yourself."

Jaune scoffed.

"I'm not drowning myself in work because of that. I'm just… behind. In a lot of things." He said haltingly. Blake raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Right. And you're doing homework as well because…?"

Jaune blushed at little. "W-well, isn't it a good thing to do homework?" He defended. Blake simply crossed her arms, a firm expression set.

"You never do homework. If I recall, you said 'homework is for people that don't have anything better to do with their lives.'"

"Well, I mean it's not like I _do_ have anything better to… do." Jaune finished lamely.

"Uh huh." There wasn't a trace of belief in her voice whatsoever.

Again silence ensued as Jaune tried to find a good excuse to give while Blake sat there patiently, waiting for another excuse to shoot down. Finally Jaune shrugged.

"I got nothing for you." He confessed. Blake gave a small grin and threw up her hands in mock exasperation.

"Finally some truth out of you."

Jaune couldn't help but laugh at the usually stoic Blake turning dramatic on him. Jaune looked down at the bed, grateful that he had a friend that he could relax around. It was a new feeling for him, that was for sure.

"You know you don't have to wallow in misery all by yourself." Blake said gently, only half teasing in hopes that Jaune would respond positively to the tone. He nodded, only a little listlessly, and looked to the side, one of his hands picking at the bed sheets underneath him.

"Yeah. It's just—it's hard for me." Jaune confessed. "I've been alone for so long that the first thing I think of is trying to do everything by myself. I've never really had anyone to rely on, you know?"

Blake's expression softened as she listened, and sympathized with him. She knew what it was like to be alone and rely on only yourself. That feeling only stopped when she joined the White Fang… but that didn't last very long either.

Without much thought, Blake laid a hand on Jaune's shoulder, causing him to look up into her eyes. She smiled softly at him.

"Well, just remember that we _are_ here, and we want to help. And—" Blake hesitated for a second, "no one should have to carry around so much guilt by themselves."

Jaune snorted a little. "And it's not like anyone here is really reluctant to listen to someone else's life story, are they?" Blake shook her head, laughing.

"No, they aren't."

Jaune slid off the bed, standing up and offering a hand to Blake.

"Alright then. Let's go and be miserable with all of our friends." Blake smiled and took his hand, pulling herself up.

"Let's."

* * *

Cinder wasn't sure if her spine was tingling because of excitement or fear.

There was someone who also knew the secrets to alchemy out there, and they were _here_. Albeit, he was just a student, but even the most basic knowledge would put a hamper in her plans. Looking down at her hands, one etched with an intricate circle, the other almost completely blackened, her mind gathered into a pinpoint of concentration as she modified her plans accordingly.

Jaune Arc had to go.

"Emerald."

"Yes Cinder?" She said, appearing beside her, red eyes flashing with obedience. Cinder tapped a forefinger against the desk, looking at the planner in front of her. First was the dance… and then afterwards would be the team missions. Hm. This would be very interesting.

"What do you think of Jaune?" Cinder asked casually. Emerald tilted her head in question.

"The blonde buffoon? I mean, he's nothing special. His fighting is alright, but he relies too much on surprise, and just because he's an alchemist—"

"He is no alchemist." Cinder snapped at Emerald, causing her to back away a step and bow.

"Of course not. I'm sorry I even implied that he was."

Cinder snarled once again, showing the rare anger that constantly boiled underneath her. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and leaned back against her chair.

"Just because he knows a few tips and tricks that involve alchemy, does _not_ mean that he is anything _close_ to me. After all, an alchemist is only an alchemist when they know how to make this," Cinder said, pulling out a blood red stone and holding it between her thin fingers.

"And I doubt he would even have the strength to kill one person, let alone thousands, to make something like this." Cinder said confidently.

"Of course Cinder." Emerald agreed, happy that her boss seemed to have calmed down again. Cinder sighed, stowing away the philosopher's stone.

"But that wasn't what I meant." Cinder said, referring back to her previous question about the Arc boy. "I meant, how attractive do you think he is?"

Emerald looked uncertain, wondering why Cinder was asking about how good looking someone like Jaune was.

"Like, on a scale from one to ten?" Emerald asked tentatively. Cinder raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"No. I want you to rate him using the alphabetical system, along with a comparison of his attractiveness to Grimm. Yes, on a scale from one to ten, Emerald." Cinder said dryly. Emerald winced and nodded, face twisting in disgust as she thought about Jaune in the (she shivered a little) romantic sense.

"I guess he isn't the worst looking guy out there. Tall enough, but not really muscle-y. But his personality," Emerald stuck out a tongue as if she had eaten something rotten. "he's way too… happy for me. I guess I'd say four or five."

Mercury, who had been laying on the bench set on the far side of Cinder's office, decided to speak up.

"What she means is that she isn't really looking for anyone that doesn't look or act like me." He said, mockingly showcasing his body with a flourish of his hands while still laying on the bench. Emerald scrunched her nose in disgust.

"Or maybe the complete opposite of you." She shot back. Cinder interrupted them, having no time to entertain what could possibly be an hour-long snarkfest.

"Enough. Emerald." The green haired girl turned her attention towards Cinder as she spoke her name. "I need you to make that four or five into a ten." Emerald sputtered in protest while Mercury just burst out laughing.

"W-wha? Why would I do that?"

Cinder pointed a finger at Emerald, smirking a little.

"Well. I'm sure that for someone like you, it would be quite easy to manipulate him. And you've already expressed an interest in him, have you not?"

"Er… yes?"

Cinder nodded, more to herself than to anyone else.

"Good. Then maybe you can lead him on enough for us to get rid of him later. For now though, I'd like for you to wrap him around your finger. We have work to do."

Emerald deflated, but nodded in deference to her boss's orders.

"Yes Cinder."

Cinder nodded, this one directed to the green haired girl, before pausing.

"And Emerald?" The illusionist winced, knowing that whatever Cinder said next wasn't going to be something that Emerald was going to enjoy.

"Make sure to ask him out to the dance, will you?"

Emerald clenched her fists, to prevent herself from screaming in frustration at Cinder, and effectively becoming a pile of ash.

"Yes Cinder."


	16. Setting Up for the Dance

**A/N: Sorry this one's a little late... I hope y'all enjoy :)**

 **Cain:That manipulative little b*** but I guess I can't complain I mean this is Cinder your writing about. But I do hope Jaune says no to Emerald and goes with Blake.**

* * *

 **Beta: Prince of Austria**

* * *

"So… the dance is coming up."

Jaune turned to Pyrrha, who was looking inquisitively at him. Nodding, Jaune closed the _Compendium_ and set it aside.

"Yeah?" Jaune asked, wondering where Pyrrha was going with this. The redhead fidgeted a little, almost looking like a schoolgirl instead of one of the best fighters of their year.

"Well, I mean, I was just wondering if you had anyone you were bringing to the dance. To go with you."

Jaune frowned, thinking. "I didn't realize it would be such a sure thing for me to be going to the dance." Jaune said thoughtfully, with a trace of amusement. Pyrrha's face reddened a little at being put on the spot and she hurriedly apologized for assuming that he would be.

"Oh it's fine," Jaune said, laughing it off. "I was just messing with you."

Pyrrha's shoulders slid down a fraction in relief, happy to see that Jaune was talking and smiling. It seemed that a few days of Blake forcing him to interact with humans did well on his psyche. After the catastrophe that was the robot assault of last week, Jaune had seemed a little lifeless. Then again, Pyrrha thought to herself, everyone else had too. All of them, from Blake to Sun was a little shocked at the careless amounts of life that they threw away when facing Roman.

Luckily, with the help of a resilient fifteen year-old and her older sister, the two teams were gathered together and were reassured one thing over and over again until it got through to them.

It wasn't their fault.

Well, it was their fault, but everyone was forced to remember that it wasn't just _one_ person's fault. With that in mind though, everyone was able to come together, and support each other. Someone always had someone else to talk to, and someone else to share the blame.

Even the punishments that Headmaster Ozpin gave them seemed only to bring the two teams together, Ozpin oftentimes pairing up two members of each team for one assignment.

"So you are going to the dance then?" Pyrrha asked, her voice tinged with a little hope. Jaune shrugged.

"I guess I am. I don't think there's anything else I'd do if I wasn't." Besides translating and deciphering those books that he needed to decipher. Apparently, although Jaune hadn't forgotten about what he needed to do, he was also starting to learn how to balance his life along with it. After all, if it was going to take him all semester to crack the tomes, what's the harm in a week or two of breaks as well?

"That's wonderful!" Pyrrha clapped her hands in excitement, before turning demure and glancing shyly at Jaune.

"Would you… happen to have someone to go with in mind?"

Jaune blinked at the sudden question. "Uh, no. Do you?" he asked back awkwardly. Pyrrha blushed and started to play with her hair a little.

"Actually I was hoping that I could go with someone… as friends."

"Oh?" At this point, Jaune was actually very interested, this being the first time he's seen Pyrrha acting so nervous. Pyrrha took a deep breath before blurting out her question.

"What do you think of Ruby?" She asked. Again, Jaune blinked, completely lost as to how the subject changed so suddenly.

"Ruby?" Jaune asked uncertainly. Pyrrha nodded, her face still bright red.

"She's… pretty cool, I guess. It's hard to remember that she's only fifteen though, 'cause she's pretty good at acting our age… or we're pretty good at acting hers." Jaune muttered the last part to himself quietly.

"Yes, she _is_ pretty cool isn't she?" Pyrrha said happily. "She is quite the accomplished Huntress, and so smart for her age—"

"And doesn't really judge a person because of fancy titles or whatnot, right?" Jaune interjected slyly. The redheaded Amazon froze.

"Well?" Jaune asked, twirling his pencil in between his fingers while looking at Pyrrha in amusement. "Am I wrong?" Pyrrha sputtered something nonsensical, as if the neon red face and the way she was acting wasn't already a dead giveaway. Finally Pyrrha had enough grace to concede the point and hunched over a little.

"You're not wrong." Pyrrha admitted. Jaune gave a happy grin and leaned over to pat her on the back.

"Well, you should go for it. I think she would really appreciate the gesture." Jaune said, for once imparting wisdom onto someone instead of it being the other way around.

"Thanks Jaune." Pyrrha said warmly, smiling up at her partner. Standing up, she looked closely at Jaune, eyes briefly attracted to the constantly moving pencil in his fingers.

"You know Jaune, we didn't really get off on the… best foot possible in the beginning." Pyrrha started out. The blonde alchemist nodded, knowing full well that he hadn't been all that welcoming. "But I think that it would be grand if we could become better partners… and a better team."

Jaune kept his eyes on Pyrrha before giving a soft smile. "Yeah. I'd like that." He gave a little laugh. "After all, it kind of sucks that we're one of the only teams that don't even have any strategies. Dust, even Team RWBY's been making up some moves."

Pyrrha giggled into her hand. "I know. I've heard them practicing."

Snorting, Jaune said, "I've _seen_ them practicing. It's one thing to hear Ruby yell out 'Ice Flower'! and another to see her accidentally freezing Yang into the arena for half an hour."

The two of them imagined the scenario and burst out laughing, leaning on each other for support. The silence in the room, for the first time, actually felt more than just bearable. It felt comfortable. Even though neither of them said a word, it seemed as if there wasn't a pressure to do so, and the two of them simply sat there in companionable silence. Finally, Pyrrha decided to speak up.

"So, you know, Blake still doesn't have someone to go with to the dance."

Jaune raised an incredulous eyebrow, quite frankly surprised at how blatant Pyrrha approached the topic.

"Uh. Okay?" Jaune said, a little confused. Pyrrha's brow creased in frustration.

"So. Why don't you go with her?"

"Oh."

Another brief silence as Jaune thought about it. He and Blake were pretty close. Maybe she wouldn't say no? Why would she say yes?

When Jaune turned the question around, it was hard for him to find an answer. There wasn't much that he could really offer. A bit of a nerd. Awkward. Secretive… Jaune fell onto the bed sheets and laid his hands behind his head, frowning.

"I don't know. I think I'll just go alone. Actually, I think I'll just let the chips fall where they may."

Pyrrha frowned at the lackadaisical attitude that Jaune was displaying, and tried to find another way that would push him.

"That does sound reasonable… but you know, I also saw that Sun was asking Blake to the dance as well." Pyrrha added in, hoping that it would propel him into action. Instead, it made him deflate a little further.

"Okay… then why should I even ask?" Jaune retorted. "I mean, she doesn't really have a good reason to accept, does she?"

Pyrrha opened and closed her mouth, furiously trying to think of a reason to tell Jaune.

"Well, yes, but maybe she doesn't want to go with Sun?"

Now things were getting really confusing for the simple minded alchemist.

"But if she doesn't want to go with Sun… why would she want to go with me?"

"Because you two are good friends!" Pyrrha was getting to the end of her own patience, which she found to be particularly short when it came to Jaune. He just seemed so… so thickheaded.

A pity for any girl trying to capture his attention.

As oblivious as Jaune is, he simply rose up from the bed and gave a casual shrug. "Well, it's fine. We'll still see each other at the dance. I think I'm going to go for a walk." Jaune said unexpectedly, throwing Pyrrha off completely.

"Wait, what-?"

Jaune ignored her protests and left with a casual wave.

The moment he was clear from the hallway, Jaune leaned against the nearest wall, releasing a sigh.

He didn't get it. He just didn't get it. Why would it matter that Blake was going with Sun? Or that she was going with Sun? Dust, why was it that the simply possibility was making him want to go up to the monkey faunus and sink him neck deep into the ground? Jaune opened up the palm of his automail arm, looking at the glove that was enclosed on it briefly before using his other hand to take it off.

Maybe… maybe it was because he was different, Jaune thought to himself as he looked at the interlocking plates that made up his hand. Sure, there were a few people with cybernetic attachments like… okay, so there wasn't anyone that he could think of. But when you're in a world where people have things that act like magic and shape shifting scythe/sniper rifles, a robotic hand wasn't all that crazy.

Right?

Ah who was he kidding. Sure most people didn't care how Jaune looked or if he was missing a limb or not. Sure all of his friends accepted the fact that he lost his arm years ago.

But that didn't change the fact that the first time they saw it, they flinched.

Everyone did.

And even if outwardly they didn't care, everyone judged him for that. Everyone saw him as imperfect, and in a world where Aura could make you look fantastic until you were ripped apart by Grimm, it made him less.

Heh.

It wasn't like he was wearing his gloves to make a fashion statement after all.

Jaune closed his eyes once more and heaved out another breath, releasing all of his teenage angst out in one go. Putting the subject aside (or shoving it as deep into his brain as he could possibly manage), Jaune went to shimmy back into his glove before he heard a little gasp. Turning, Jaune saw a head of green hair and a pair of wide red eyes.

Trying to play it off, Jaune gave a nonchalant smile and even waved with his automail arm.

"Hey there Emerald."

Quickly, as if she just changed masks, her face was wiped clean of any shock and a smile was put in place as she waved back.

"Hey there Jaune! I, uh, sorry for… you know." Emerald said awkwardly, gesturing to his still exposed hand. With a tight smile, Jaune slid his hand back into the glove.

"Don't worry about it. I should've thought of that before I, uh, decided to pull off my glove in the hallway." Emerald offered a weak smile.

"Right." She said simply. "So, where're you going?" She asked, walking beside Jaune.

"Uh. Around?" Jaune offered, not sure where he was going either. Emerald nodded genially.

"Sounds good to me."

As the two of them wandered around in the hallways, Jaune couldn't help but compare the silence that the two of them had with the one Pyrrha and Jaune had earlier. There was the same elements behind it. Silence, accompanied by occasional snippets of conversation. A pretty girl, an average boy. But there was something different with the Jaune and Emerald.

The awkwardness was a little stifling.

Jaune felt a little hot around the edges of his clothing, and he opened his mouth constantly, as if trying to find anything to say to the silent Emerald.

When the two of them started to hang out a week ago, Jaune could tell that Emerald was interested in him, and that quite frankly scared him. Aside from the fact that Jaune had a unique perspective and knowledge of alchemy, there wasn't much else for others to be interested in.

So when Emerald appeared during his lunch break a few days after when they first met, Jaune was already on his toes. She talked about… well, about books, which was something Jaune could actually relate to. A few fairy tales and fictional stories slipped through his understanding, but they could keep up a decent conversation. It didn't hurt that Emerald was also an attractive girl who seemingly was willing to give him attention.

Something just… feels a little off to Jaune.

Call him paranoid, but with his experience with girls, the last thing he expects is for someone as gorgeous as Emerald to just walk up and coincidentally be interested in him.

"Jaune? Jaune?"

"Huh?" Turning, the blonde alchemist saw that Emerald was a few paces behind him, arms crossed and an eyebrow turned in amusement.

"I said that I needed to get off here." Emerald gestured to the door beside her. "This is my dorm." Jaune nodded.

"Oh. Right. Sorry."

Emerald laughed, waving it aside. "It's alright Jaune. I don't like you 'cause of your social skills that's for sure." Jaune flushed a little, not sure what kind of _like_ Emerald was implying with that sentence. The door slid open and the emerald haired girl put one foot through the threshold, before turning to face Jaune again.

"Hey." She started off, a little awkwardly. "You have anyone going with you to the dance?"

"Uh." Jaune said smartly. "You mean the one next week?" Emerald rolled her eyes.

"No, the one three years from now, when we graduate." She snarked back. "Yes the one next week."

"Oh." Again Jaune's face grew a little warm, not used to having his usual sarcasm delivered back at him. "No. I don't. Have anyone, that is. To go to the dance with me."

Couldn't have been smoother Jaune.

And for his next trick, Jaune was going to trip on his shoelaces.

"Well, maybe you wouldn't mind going with me?"

Huh?

Wait, what?

"Huh?" Jaune repeated. Emerald gave a little smirk.

"You. Me. Dance. Together?" Emerald said, pretending to grunt barbarically. Jaune flushes deep red this time.

"Oh. Uh."

"You don't have to answer now." Emerald said, holding up her hands to stop him from answering. "Just know that I'm offering. I'll see you around Jaune." And with that, she popped the rest of her body into the room, the door sliding shut.

The blonde haired alchemist stood there for another second, still confounded.

"I have no idea what just happened." Jaune said to the empty hallway. Shaking his thoughts clear, he headed back to his room.

Emerald.

There was just something about her that Jaune couldn't put a finger to, and he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. Maybe she was a spy of some sort. Maybe she's buttering up people so that she could find their weaknesses and use it against them during the Vytal Festival. Maybe…

Maybe Jaune was just being paranoid.

"You know, you shouldn't be making that kind of face for so long. It might stay that way."

Blake was leaning against a wall, arms crossed and a small smile sported across her face. Jaune raised an eyebrow.

"No, I don't think that face will be any more attractive than the other one." Blake teased, making Jaune roll his eyes.

"Hey there Blake. What brings you here?" The cat faunus shrugged, leaning off of the wall.

"Just taking a stroll before I spotted you." She answered easily. "What about you?"

Jaune scratched the back of his neck, smiling a little. "Same." He answered.

With that, the two of them turned to the direction of their dorms and strolled along, neither really wanting to say a word. When they approached their hallway however, it was Blake, surprisingly, who decided to speak up.

"So, are you going to the dance next week?" Blake asked, causing Jaune to turn his attention towards her. Jaune's mind worked furiously without him noticing, remembering the earlier conversation that he had with Pyrrha.

 _I also saw that Sun was asking Blake to the dance as well._

"Actually, yeah. Emerald just asked me to go with her." Jaune said carelessly. Blake's bow twitched a little, and the small smile that she wore a few seconds ago seemed to fade into its regular stoic line.

"Oh?"

Jaune nodded, a little too enthusiastically.

"Yeah, it was a real shock, 'cause I wasn't expecting anyone to really ask me to the dance, but she did so… yeah."

"What did you say?" Blake's voice seemed a little quieter than usual. Again, Jaune scratched the back of his neck, giving out a small chuckle.

"Well I didn't really say anything. She told me that I didn't have to answer her until I thought it through." Another pause as the two of them grasped for something to say.

"That's… very nice." Blake commented. Taking a deep breath, she said, "I think it'd be pretty cute for you two to go together." Jaune flicked his eyes over to look at Blake, who had a grin on her face for a second, before she turned away. Jaune frowned when she wasn't looking, a deep pit forming in his stomach.

"Yeah. And it'll be pretty cool seeing you and Sun together too." Jaune said. He didn't know where this was coming from, or why he even said that. All he knew was that in his mind, somehow, he thought that saying something along those lines would make the feeling in his stomach go away.

Blake rubbed her arm, still not meeting Jaune in the eyes.

"Yeah."

With that, the two of them stopped in front of their respective rooms and stood on opposite sides, looking everywhere but at each other's faces.

"Well. Goodnight." Jaune said somberly, not sure why he was being so formal. Blake nodded.

"And to you." Blake said, mirroring Jaune's formal tone and turned around, going into her dorm.

As the door slid shut, Jaune was left facing the impassive walls, not sure what just happened, but knowing that he should've done something different.

"Damn."


	17. The One on Your Mind

**A/N: So, apparently Witcher 3 is** ** _not_** **good for my writing schedule... but I'm going to keep pretending that everything's fine until it's... not. XD On that note, my Beta has rated this C for Cute! So sugary-haters beware! XD Enjoy!**

 **Guest:Thanks! I appreciate that!**

 **Cain: Erm... yeah. Sorry buddy. XD**

* * *

 **Beta: Prince of Austria**

* * *

Everything seemed really awkward, Jaune thought to himself, looking at the open room. The dance was just starting up, and it seemed as if things were going smoothly. People were dancing, eating, drinking (punch, not alcohol… or at least that's what  
Jaune assumed) their hearts out, getting ready for their first mission assignments of the year.

Jaune turned when Emerald touched him on the arm, smiling. Emerald returned the smile and held out her arms.

"Wanna dance?" She asked. Jaune smiled, nodding in affirmation as he was grabbed by the hand and led to the dance floor.

Emerald was enchanting tonight. She wore a simple black dress that seemed to hug her body, flaring out on the bottom and generally flattering her figure. If Jaune was any other man, he would've had a hard time keeping his eyes off of her.

Instead though, Jaune couldn't keep his eyes off of the girl across the room from him, wearing a dark purple dress and sporting her traditional black bow, dancing with the monkey… faunus.

Arms wrapped around Jaune a little tighter, bringing his attention back to Emerald, who had a little frown on her face.

"You know, it's kind of a good idea to pay attention to the girl you're dancing with."

Jaune winced, gripping her hands firmly. _Suck it up Jaune. Focus on the pretty girl in front of you_. And with that Jaune moved his feet to the beat and gave the green-haired girl a beautiful smile.

"That's better." Emerald said, sporting a grin. With the reassurance that Emerald wasn't mad at him, his shoulders slowly lowered and he relaxed, mentally berating himself for looking at another girl when he should appreciate the one in front of him.

"You know, I didn't really expect you to ask me to the dance." Jaune admitted, laughing. Emerald grinned too, eyes sparkling with a hint of mischief.

"Hey, I can't help it if I wanted to see firsthand how many left feet you have." She said teasingly.

They bantered back and forth, smiling and laughing and dancing, enjoying the moment. It was so nice and Emerald was just a wonderful girl, Jaune was almost able to shove Blake into the back of his mind. Almost.

Little did he know that when he wasn't watching, Blake turned to look at him as well, lips tugged into a slight frown that wasn't noticed by Sun.

"I think it's great that you decided to come with me by the way. You're like, totally awesome and cool and fun to hang out with and stuff. And you look awesome in that dress too. Like, wowza." Sun continued to ramble, something that Blake was used  
to, having a team like RWBY.

Blake's eyebrows furrowed a little, while her teeth grazed her lower lip at the sight of Jaune laughing at some joke that the green-haired girl had told. Shaking her head mentally, Blake tried to get her mind off of the blonde-haired alchemist. This  
was stupid of her to keep watching Jaune like that.

Blake jumped when Sun decided to take her hand, looking into her eyes uncertainly.

"Look," Sun began tentatively, trying to find words that he usually didn't say. "I really, really appreciate you coming with me to the dance tonight." Blake gave a small smile and squeezed Sun's hands quickly before sliding her hands out.

"Thanks." Blake said quietly, before turning around. "I think I'm going to get a drink. I'll be right back."

"Oh. Okay." Sun said, nodding uncertainly. Blake didn't see this however, with her eyes already clanking back towards Jaune, who seemed to have a serious look on his face.

"Oh really? I didn't know you've been to Ravenwood before." Jaune said, interested in that little tidbit. Emerald nodded, talking conversationally about the quaint little town.

"Yeah, me and my team swung by there way back when to protect the town from some Grimm. It's a pretty neat place. Lots of weird things happening there though."

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked, recalling the manuscripts that he received years back when he was studying some of the basics of Alchemy. Ravenwood was one of the few towns that had a dedicated historical archive, and housed a few interesting documents  
that Jaune would've loved to look into.

Emerald shrugged, looking upwards towards the ceiling as if trying to remember the things that happened there.

"I don't exactly remember everything… but there was a lot of weird writing… and drawings of circles and stuff all over the place. There was this certain air around the town and…" Emerald shivered a little, as if remembering something dark. "There  
was this fountain that had a red rock encased inside of it. No one wanted to go near the thing, but it had this heavy air to it." Emerald rubbed her arms. "I'm pretty sure the town was haunted or something."

Emerald turned to look at Jaune, who seemed to be deep in thought. Knowing what he was thinking about, Emerald let out a victorious smirk, knowing that Jaune had grabbed the bait, hook, line, and sinker. Deciding that it wouldn't be a good idea to  
let him think about it _too_ much, Emerald decided to jump in.

"What's got you so interested about a small town like Ravenwood anyways?" Emerald asked, her tone bathed in false innocence.

"I, uh." Jaune stuttered a little, trying to grasp a good excuse to tell the girl. She was pretty, she was funny, and she was giving him the time of day…. But there was still something that kept him from telling her everything that came to his mind.

And telling her about Alchemy would be a big no-no.

"I hear there's a lot of mysterious history there." Jaune was finally able to fib out, thinking on his feet. "You know me… sucker for history." Emerald raised an eyebrow inquisitively.

"Really? Because last I remember, everyone on your team _and_ Team RWBY seemed to say that you fall asleep in history class almost five out of five days."

Jaune winced at the light tone, knowing that he was caught. Still though, as he was not a veteran of lying, he kept making excuses, hoping that he would dig himself into a hole deep enough to pop out the other side.

"Yeah… well." Jaune rubbed the back of his head nervously. "That stuff's different. I like… small town… history." Jaune finished lamely. Emerald kept her eyebrow up.

"Uh huh." There was no room in her voice that even gave a doubt that she didn't believe what he was saying. Feeling pity for the squirming boy though, Emerald decided to move on.

"Well whatever. It's nice to know a little more about you I guess. Even if it's something like you enjoying 'small town history'." She laughed a little as she gently teased Jaune, getting him to laugh along with her, face still red from the horrible  
lies that he was handing out.

They continued to dance along until Jauen felt a tap on his shoulder, revealing a silver-haired teenage boy standing behind him.

"Hey there. Jaune?" The tall boy asked. After Jaune nodded, he continued. "Do you mind if I could borrow my teammate for a little while? Just one dance and I'll bring her back to you, promise." The guy stood there with his hand up, grinning charmingly.  
Jaune turned to Emerald, who seemed to be looking to see if Jaune would give permission.

 _It's not like I can really say no even if I wanted to_.

Jaune nodded and smiled, turning to let the boy grab Emerald by the hands, leading her away before pausing.

"Oh, by the way, I'm Mercury." He said, formally introducing himself. Jaune nodded, mind working in overtime to remember standard social protocols.

"Nice to meet you Mercury. I'm Jaune… Arc. But you probably already knew that since you said my name." The gray-eyed boy grinned and nodded, before sweeping Jaune's dance partner into the crowd, leaving Jaune alone in the middle of the dance floor.  
Without another thought, Jaune struggled his way through the crowds of dancing students to find the punch bowl, which was somewhere he knew would have a little less people.

Rows and rows of cups were sitting on the table in front of him, and he grabbed one thankfully, bringing it up to his parched lips.

"Jaune?"

Turning a little to the left, the blonde alchemist spotted the girl he had been staring at for the past hour or so in front of him. Taking a careful sip of his drink, he placed it down on the table again, grateful that he had enough self control not  
to start talking while he still had liquid in his mouth. That didn't mean his stomach didn't start to feel a little queasy.

 _I've never talked to such a beautiful girl before._ Jaune thought to himself, forgetting that he had just been chatting with Emerald only a few minutes ago.

"Hey there Blake. How's it going?" Jaune asked, his voice forcefully casual. Blake nodded a little awkwardly, feeling the same air of tension that he was. Neither one of them knew exactly _why_ the air was so tense, but had enough sense to tiptoe  
around each other, as if they were afraid one or the other would explode if they stepped too close.

"Not much. Just getting a drink before I get back to Sun."

Jaune nodded along with her. Right. The monkey faunus.

"I bet he dances real well." Jaune tried to make a joke, hoping that he was at least being a little funny. Blake gave a polite smile, nodding.

The two of them once again fell into a silence, not knowing what to say.

"Do you think—"

"Maybe we could—"

The two of them started to speak at the same time, and stopped nearly simultaneously as well. Again, the force of awkwardness hit the both of them as they floundered to find a way around it.

"You go first." Jaune offered, ever the gentleman. Blake shook her head and gestured for him to do so instead. Jaune pursed his lips and decided to just dive through, hoping that this would at least cut the tension a little bit.

"Maybe we could—if you aren't too busy… maybe we could. Uh. Dance? You and me?" Jaune said feebly, losing confidence with every word that he seemed to say.

Jaune wanted to stab himself. Dust, he wanted to transmutated himself into a tree so that his face would stop burning so badly and his heart would stop hammering and his stomach would stop feeling as if he was taking a ride on a Bullhead.

"Sure."

When Jaune saw Blake smiling, he decided that it was worth it though, and gave a beaming smile of his own.

"Well then, let's dance." Jaune said, holding out a hand. The cat faunus grabbed onto it, letting the alchemist lead her onto the dance floor, where the music was finally slow enough that people weren't jumping around wildly and knocking others over.

For the next two minutes, the two of them didn't speak, finally finding the right balance of their personalities to let shine through with their dance. It was a soft, quiet, and reserved movement for the dance, but it made sense to the two of them,  
and was something they were both comfortable in.

There were no words that could convey what they were thinking, and quite frankly, the two of them preferred it that way. They were never ones for words, and the way they danced together showed it. It wasn't anything special. There weren't sparks flying  
in the air, there was a wide circle that they could dance gracefully around. In fact, the air was humid and hot with the amount of people there, and it was tight enough that there was the occasional elbow or knee interrupting them.

But when the song finished, and the two of them separated, there was a smile on both faces, and their eyes seemed a little lighter.

A faster beat replaced the song that they had just danced to, which was the cue for them to leave the floor again.

"That was nice." Blake commented, looking at Jaune.

"Yeah."

This time, when the silence fell between the two of them, it wasn't stifling, but instead a little comfortable. But soon, their minds turned back to the reality of the situation, where they had partners they needed to get back to.

"I should probably get going," Blake was the first one to say, letting out a little sigh. "Sun's probably wondering what's taking me so long to get some punch." Jaune nodded, understanding.

"Yeah. And I think Emerald might be looking for me."

Even though they said that, neither made a move to leave yet, relishing the company for just a little longer before they had to surrender themselves to other company.

Finally, as if by some unspoken command, the two of them parted, moving backwards from each other, releasing hold of their hands, which they had forgotten were still joined.

There was a _squee-_ ing sound coming from the back of the room somewhere, which Jaune turned to try and find.

He saw Ruby jumping up and down, pumping Pyrrha's arm as she pointed towards Jaune, then towards Blake while Pyrrha was simply laughing along with her.

Face once again red as a tomato, Jaune hurried to find his green-haired date for the night.

 _Well, at least I wasn't the only who enjoyed that_.


	18. Choosing a Mission

**A/N: I apologize for how short this one is but... man, Witcher though. Can you really blame me? Oh, and school, yeah that's a thing too.. :) Enjoy!**

* * *

"So fearless leader, which mission do you think we should do?"

Jaune turned to face Nora, who was excitedly spinning around to look at all the screens of information that were pulled up in front of them. Sporting a soft smile, Jaune kept reading the screens in front of him.

"I'm not sure Nora. Let me know if you've found something that catches your eye. You too, Ren, Pyrrha." The other two nodded while continuing to browse through the mission files on the screens.

 _Something easy… but not too easy_. Jaune thought to himself, moving onto the next screen. Again he shifted after that, finding nothing that would capture his attention.

"Ooh, ooh, ooh, Let's go into the Grimm Wastelands and battle thousands of Grimm! Oh wait, that's for third years. Do you think we could still take on the mission, Renny?" Pyrrha continued to browse the screens while Ren took his time dissuading Nora from putting them into a suicidal run.

"What about this one?" Pyrrha asked, pointing to one of the screens. Jaune approached, looking over her shoulder to read one of the missions that was on the screen. Nodding slowly to himself, he thought that the mission Pyrrha was pointing to should be a great mission to work on.

"That sounds pretty nice Pyrrha, I think—" Jaune cut off abruptly, eyes snapping onto the mission that was hovering a little below the one that they were about to select. Normally it wouldn't have caught his attention, being something that was located on the edges of Vale, as well as being recommended for second years instead of first years, but…

The word _Ravenwood_ kept his eyes attached to the screen.

 _There was this fountain that had a red rock encased inside of it_.

"A-actually," Jaune said suddenly, voice a little unsteady, "Maybe we could do _this_ one instead?"

Pyrrha looked at the mission that Jaune pointed too, frowning.

"Are you sure about this one, Jaune? This seems like a particularly difficult mission, and is located pretty far away from here. Are you sure you want to travel several hours on a Bullhead—"

"Yeah." Jaune interrupted her, eyes hard when he turned to look at her, his mouth set in a determined line. "I want to do this one." Pyrrha was a little put back by the steel in his voice, unused to Jaune being interested in anything besides alchemy. She was still uncertain as to why Jaune wanted to do this mission, but it wouldn't be impossible for them to do.

"Well, let's talk to Ren and Nora first and see what they think." Pyrrha finally said, looking at Jaune to see if he would relent, which he did with a nod.

"Hey guys, what do you think of this one?" Jaune asked, waving them over before pointing towards the screen. The two of them leaned over to look carefully at the mission. There was a brief moment of quiet as the two read the description. Jaune just stood there a little impatiently, tapping a finger on his arm and silently urging them to say yes.

"…I don't mind this mission." Ren finally said, straightening back up and looking at Pyrrha and Jaune, nodding. Nora popped up with a grin, nodding excitedly.

"This looks fun! Let's do it!"

With a nod, Jaune pressed the screen with his finger, selecting the mission and pressing accept.

 _Beep beep!_

The screen flashed red and another message appeared.

 _Your team [TEAM JNPR] has insufficient requirements to select this mission._

Jaune winced at the harsh sound it made, and scowled, frustrated that the system wouldn't allow him to choose what he wanted. Jaune slammed his fist onto a nearby wall, before exhaling a breath and turning away. Pyrrha, who was about to suggest they choose another mission, stopped when he saw how angry Jaune seemed. She wasn't sure why her leader wanted the mission so badly, but she could tell that it meant something to him, and made her way to comfort him before the screen behind them made another strange sound.

Turning, Pyrrha saw the red screen change into a green rectangle.

 _[Team JNPR] has accepted Mission AJ378. Confirm?_

"Jaune!" Pyrrha said frantically, gesturing at the screen. Turning, the blonde alchemist's eyes widened at the sight of the accept screen and almost flew back, finger already out to press the _yes_ for the confirmation.

He turned to Pyrrha, his face filled with disbelief before practically jumping up excitedly, giving the red-haired Amazon a tight hug.

"Yes!" Jaune said, practically jumping up and down. Pyrrha, who had never seen Jaune express so much emotion in such a short time, stood there frozen for a little while, before letting out a small smile and returning the hug. A loud and excited cheer came from behind them as Nora exploded in delight, tackling them both to the ground. Ren stood to the side, smiling as well, but opting not to add to the jumble of limbs.

It was a sweet moment.

"I'm joining!" Yang shouted, landed on top of them, dragging Ruby in yelping.

They rolled around for a little while before naturally separating with tired breaths, people around them used to the riotous energy that the two groups exuded.

"So," Jaune panted, laying flat on his back. "Did you guys choose a mission yet?" He turned his head to look at Ruby, who shrugged nonchalantly.

"You could say that we found a particularly… cool one." Ruby said, spreading her hands wide and trying her best to be as enigmatic as possible.

"We're going on a search and destroy mission." Blake said bluntly, seeing no reason to withhold information to their sister-team. Ruby pouted at the forward admission, turning towards Blake.

"Blaaake. We have to keep it a secret!" Blake simply rolled her eyes and waved away Ruby's angry fists.

"Come on Ruby. What's the matter with telling our friends where we're going? At least that way we'll have someone who knows where we are if we go missing." Blake added cynically. Yang took that as her chance to barge in, wrapping her arm around Blake's neck and rubbing their cheeks together.

"Aww, I'm going to ignore the fact that you pretty much think we're going to die from this and focus on the fact that you're actually sharing!" Blake made an uncomfortable noise in her throat and tried to paw her way out of Yang's grip.

"Wait a minute," Ren said, eyebrows creasing in realization. "First years aren't allowed to go on Search and Destroy missions." Pyrrha nodded, but didn't bother moving as Ruby was still on top of her, and the red-haired girl didn't seem to be bothered by it. The fifteen-year old sitting on Pyrrha's waist actually straightened up proudly and gave a cheeky grin at Ren.

"Yep. But we got special permission from Headmaster Ozpin _himself_. So… yeah." Ruby nodded confidently. "We're awesome." Beaming at Pyrrha, Ruby couldn't help but continue rambling. "Oh oh, and my dad sent Zwei in the mail today so today literally couldn't get any better!"

Jaune looked at Ruby in confusion. "Zwei?"

"Oh, I didn't tell you guys about it did I?" Ruby said, laughing giddily. "Zwei is my cute dog back at Patch."

"More like a horrifying Grimm sent in from the pits of the Wastelands." Blake muttered. Jaune, who was barely able to hear what she had said had to hold back his giggles, picturing the cat faunus going absolutely crazy once the dog appeared.

"Wait a second. You got Zwei in the mail?" Nora asked, suddenly very close to Ruby. The brunette nodded, giving the valkyrie a nod. The orange-haired girl squealed and grabbed onto Ren.

"That sounds amazing! We should _totally_ do that Ren. Can we? Can we please?"

With another look of unbelievable patience, Ren attempted to calm Nora down, pointing out the fact that they didn't have a dog they could send anywhere, and he wasn't sure how one would deliver a dog safely anyways.

Jaune lay there, smiling at the sight of everyone enjoying their time together.

There was nothing that could ruin this day.

* * *

"So… has everything gone according to plan?" Emerald asked anxiously, peering down at the screen in front of Cinder before flinching backward when a flame appeared between her eyes. Suddenly demure, Emerald bowed low.

"I… apologize for implying that I doubted you." The green haired girl said, proudly only having the slightest of tremors in her voice.

The flame disappeared and Cinder once again focused on the screen in front of her, smiling a little.

"Emerald? I would like for you to call some of my old contacts… let them know that I need a few of my experiments… off their leashes for a few days."

Emerald hadn't risen the whole time Cinder spoke, nodding once the woman finished speaking.

"Of course Cinder." And without another word Emerald disappeared from the room, leaving the flame seductress sitting by herself.

A slim finger caressed the screen in front of her, which had a picture of one of her latest experiments, as well as a picture of Jaune. With a slow smile, Cinder sent the picture to one of her colleagues who resided near Ravenwood along with a message attached to it.

 _Kill the boy._


	19. Embark to Ravenwood

**A/N: Sorry this is a little later than usual. Still on the same day though so hoo rah. Let me know what y'all think!**

* * *

"You know, for someone who prides themselves to have a scientific mind, don't you think you should've found a way to _not_ puke all over everyone's shoes whenever you get more than two feet off the air." Nora said wryly, watching as Jaune turned a sickly green as the Bullhead started to rise. Pyrrha cast a sympathetic glance at Jaune, but made sure to keep her distance, knowing that Jaune wouldn't want her help with this.

"Can't… Nothing ever… worked." Jaune managed to squeeze out. And it was true. Using delicate sciences as well as alchemy and his understanding of the human body, Jaune had created many different types of solutions to try and get rid of his motion sickness. Not even one of them worked. Some of them, fortunately, did nothing to Jaune but cause him to suffer through the motion sickness that he was going to suffer through anyways. Others… well. Jaune quickly found out why many scientists who decided to self-test didn't live for very long.

"Have you ever known any Hunters that had motion sickness?" Pyrrha asked politely to the teacher that was chaperoning the trip.

The woman looked inquisitively at Jaune, who looked like he was about to die, and pushed up her glasses, simultaneously brushing her blonde hair aside.

"Honestly, I actually have. There was a man who always got violently sick when we got on any type of moving vehicle. He actually didn't like using mechashift weapons either." Professor Goodwitch nodded at Jaune, who ignored the gesture in favor of moaning a little. "It was his father actually."

"You knew my father?" Jaune finally was able to ask in between breaths. Professor Goodwitch nodded.

"Yes. Noah was a good man. Very dedicated in his studies." The last remark seemed to have been aimed for Jaune, who would've defended himself if he wasn't also worrying that he would throw up on everyone if he did.

"So what kind of mission are we doing?" Nora asked, sitting in a chair upside down. Jaune tried not to look at her. Pyrrha looked over at Nora with a curious look on her face.

"It was all in the mission briefing that we received in our scrolls. Didn't you read it Nora?" The Valkyrie giggled and shrugged, as if that was enough of an excuse for them. Actually, it was to their team, knowing Nora now for several months. Professor Glynda cleared her throat, glaring at the sheepish girl before going on to explain the mission briefing _again_.

"A few weeks back, several people have gone mysteriously missing. There was an unusual surge of Grimm attacks, as well as an unexplainable attack in the archives." Professor Goodwitch fixed her glasses and continued to speak. "A few days after that, a group of three people came to the town and ransacked it, destroying a lot of the property before disappearing again. Due to Ravenwood's location, another team from Mistral was already there." Professor Goodwitch glared at the orange-haired girl. "What the hunters had found then and the details are to be found on your scrolls, to be read _before_ the mission starts. Is that clear?"

Nora nodded meekly before pulling out her scroll, opening it up.

The rest of the ride to Ravenwood was quiet, with only the brief punctuations of Jaune groaning during a particularly rough patch of turbulence hit interrupting the silence. Finally the pilot announced that they were going to be arriving in five minutes, and everyone started to prepare themselves for the mission to come.

As the doors opened up and Pyrrha helped Jaune hobble his way to the ramp, the group was treated with their first view of Ravenwood.

Dark.

That was their first impression. Even though they had touched down just before noon, the first vibes that they got from the town was dark. The moment the students stepped out of the Bullhead and into the open air, they couldn't help but shiver a little.

Something bad happened here, they could feel it.

"Welcome to Ravenwood, Hunters." The four of them jumped in surprise as a voice rasped up close to them. Turning, they met an old woman that seemed to barely reach five feet, holding onto a cane and looking at them with introspective eyes.

"Good morning. Would you be the town mayor?" Professor Goodwitch asked politely, stepping off of the Bullhead a few seconds after Team JNPR did. The old lady took the blonde witch's outstretched hand and shook it softly.

"Not exactly. They call me the Village Elder, and I represent the people of Ravenwood. Forgive me if this isn't the warmest welcome you all have had, but the people… they fear the outside."

Professor Goodwitch gave the elder her warmest smile, trying to find a way to comfort the lady. "No worries. We're used to this. Could you possibly point us out to where we'll be resting for the night?" The village elder nodded, before pointing to a somewhat tall building over in the distance.

"You will be staying at the Bloody Crow."

The inn looked a little worn around the edges, and by that, it meant that the inn was pretty much falling apart. Rotting wood, the sign looking like it's been through every single war that's ever been held on Remnant, and almost no lights emanating from the place.

If this wasn't the only inn in town, Jaune would've gotten the vibe that the villagers didn't want them here.

Then again, Jaune had felt the vibe that they didn't want the Hunters here the moment he stepped out of the Bullhead and got rid of his motion sickness.

"Thank you elder." The Professor said evenly, as polite and formal as ever, turning to the old lady. The village elder nodded.

"Please let me know if you need anything. I will most likely be in the center of town." And with that the elder disappeared, leaving the group a little confused and reluctant to enter the decrepit inn.

"Well," Jaune said, taking a deep breath in to steel himself. "Might as well see what it looks like, right?"

With Jaune leading the charge, the five of them opened the inn doors to scout out the insides.

Which… were a lot nicer than anyone expected them to be.

Team JNPR looked around in awe as they discovered the inside of the inn to be much homelier than the outside. A nice fireplace roared in the back of the room, and several chairs were propped up from all sides. There was a pleasant looking girl wearing glasses working the front desk, seeming to be about the same age as the Hunters- and Huntresses-in-training.

As they walked in together like lost sheep, the girl's bored expression lightened up, her face transforming into a bright smile as she went to greet the group.

"Oh! You all must be the group that came from Beacon! Hello! My name is Mirisu!" She said brightly, holding out her hand. Jaune, being the closest one to her, grabbed her hand and robotically shook it, hoping that he wouldn't accidently wrench her arm too hard.

"It's really neat to meet more Hunters and Huntresses! Let me tell you, the last group that came by here was just _so_ boring, but I can just tell that you all are gonna be _so_ much more interesting!" As the purple-haired girl was rambling, her eyes continued to rove back and forth to take in the sight of them, grinning to the point where it looked as if it would split her entire face.

"Uh, thanks?" Jaune was slowly getting overwhelmed by the amount of cheer that Mirisu seemed to have, and was on the verge of simply hiding behind his teammates. Taking a deep breath, Jaune centered himself.

 _Remember Jaune. You're the leader here. Be the leader_.

"M-my name is Arc. Uh. Jaune. Jaune Arc. And these are my teammates." Jaune gestured to his teammates before quickly backtracking. "Except for uh, the older—I mean, the one with the glasses she's my teacher and uh."

At this point Jaune decided he was going to wilt away and hide behind his teammates after all. Doing just that, Pyrrha decided to be the mature one and step forward to right Jaune's wrongs.

"I'm sorry about that. Our leader is a little tired from the trip over. My name is Pyrrha. This is Nora and Ren, and our supervisor is Professor Goodwitch." Everyone nodded as a greeting while Mirisu kept her smile plastered on her face.

"Oh no worries. I thought that was actually pretty cute. Who knew big bad Hunters could have such an awkward side to them?" The grinning girl laughed and winked at Jaune, before turning around. "Come on, let me show you guys to your rooms."

Leading them up the stairs, Mirisu pointed out to two rooms on the far side of the hallway.

"We've got two rooms for the five of you guys. I hope that's alright with you all?"

Professor Goodwitch nodded, stepping up to the front. "That will suit us just fine. We'll divide the two rooms up into girls and boys." With that, Mirisu nodded and gave a small salute, once again winking at Jaune before departing back downstairs.

"What about you Professor?" Nora asked curiously. The professor raised an eyebrow.

"Am I not a girl?" Nora scratched her head, lips quirking a little.

"Well, I mean you seem a little too old to be a gi—" The rest of her sentence was cut off when suitcases rose up from beside Jaune and flew towards the valkyrie.

"It seems Miss Valkyrie has volunteered to bring our bags up to our rooms." Professor Goodwitch lowered her gaze menacingly. "All of them." Nora laughed nervously before setting off, muttering something about 'bad ideas'.

The blonde witch turned back to the remaining team members. "I think it would be a good idea for us to split into groups and gather information about the attack, to see if the Grimm are still prowling around. You can all start now, or take a break and start after dinner."

"What do you suggest for us to do?" Pyrrha asked, her face set in grim determination, the mind already set to 'work mode'.

Surprisingly, with an action that no one had ever seen from the Professor before, the woman shrugged almost nonchalantly.

"I would rather you all make your own decisions. This mission is supposed to be something to expose you all to a taste of a real mission. Me telling you to do everything would defeat the purpose."

Pyrrha nodded, a little stunned that the professor everyone deemed 'a control freak', would let them do as they wanted. Satisfied that the team understood what they needed to do, Professor Goodwitch nodded and set off, reminding them that her scroll was on and ready to receive any message the team needed to send.

Pyrrha turned to Jaune, who still looked a little uncomfortable.

"What would you like to do right now Jaune? You _are_ our leader." Pyrrha pointed out politely, having no menace in her voice.

Even if Pyrrha hadn't said it with a hint of accusation, Jaune could feel himself slowly falling into a bit of self-hate.

 _Pyrrha should've been the team leader. Not some awkward, unsociable guy that can't even talk right_. Jaune thought a miserably to himself.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha repeated his name again, wondering what was taking so long for him to reply. Snapping out of his reverie, Jaune looked up, trying to put on some semblance of a reassuring grin.

"Sorry there Pyrrha. Head lost in the clouds again. Uh, actually, I think I'm a little worn out right now, I think I'm going to take a short nap. Why don't you guys, uh, go and look around. I'll catch up to you guys." Jaune promised. Pyrrha looked a little uncertain, but was finally swayed when Ren laid a hand on her shoulder, smiling serenely.

"I think it would be a nice change of pace working with you for once Pyrrha." Ren added helpfully, finally getting the Amazon to relent.

"Okay then… just remember to call us the moment you decide to set out." Pyrrha said warningly, which Jaune waved aside. Sure he was a little independent, and tended to move according to his own rules, but he _was_ learning, if only a little, to rely on his teammates.

Finally, Jaune was able to go into his room without any further interruptions, finding a double bed set out for him and Ren. Without another word, Jaune fell onto his bed face first, letting the sheets smother his face.

 _I need to be a better leader._

Jaune didn't know when he fell asleep, but he must have, because when he opened his eyes up, he could hear a continuous knocking at the door.

"Jaune?" A muffled voice said. "Are you there?"

With a little bit of effort, Jaune stood up, trying to shake the grogginess out of his system and walked up to the door, opening it to reveal Mirisu. The purple-haired girl looked up and scrunched her nose a little nervously, shifting her glasses back up to her eyes.

"Hey," She said softly. "Could I talk to you?"


	20. Complications

**A/N: Wow, sorry, completely got sidetracked there. Luckily I remembered that today _was_ Thursday. Anyways, let me know what you think of this chapter. I think the wording's a little weird but... Beta's been a little busy with life. Tch. You people with your lives to attend to. XD **

**Guest: Thanks!**

* * *

 **Beta: Prince of Austria**

* * *

"Do you need something?" Jaune asked in a tone of careful politeness, trying his hardest not to mess up. He needed to be a good leader.

"Actually, I was just wondering, you guys are here to investigate the attacks, right?" Mirisu asked quietly. Jaune nodded, face scrunched up a little in confusion. Mirisu nodded, almost to herself before she looked around the room.

"May I come in?" She asked politely, which Jaune answered by stepping to the side for her and sweeping an arm in as invitation to join. With a polite smile, Mirisu entered, finding the nearest chair and sitting down in it.

"Is there something you wanted from me Mirisu?" Jaune asked, trying to copy the tone that the girl sitting there had as well, sure that it was something resembling politeness. The purple haired girl nodded, her features scrunched up in a look of concentration.

"Actually, I needed to tell you something about the Grimm attack that happened." She looked around a little nervously. "Something that no one else knows about."

Jaune paused, before taking a seat on the edge of the bed and looked at Mirisu.

"What about it?" He asked curiously, wondering what information she would divulge that was such a secret. Mirisu took a deep breath in.

"The Grimm attack, when it happened you see, I was just outside of the inn, tending to some of the vegetables that we grow. It wasn't like any attack I've ever seen though." .Mirisu's hands moved when she talked, as if she was framing what happened in the story with her gestures. "Usually the attacks are smaller, you know, and it's just Beowulfs or Ursae or Boarbatusks… but always just one type of Grimm." The girl shivered a little.

"The attack had _everything_. There were so many Grimm that I couldn't even recognize. And…" Her expression looked a little uncertain, as if she couldn't believe what she was going to say either. "And they attacked _buildings_."

Jaune blinked a little, not understanding.

"What do you mean? Grimm do that don't they?" Mirisu shook her head, a frown marring her face.

"No, this was different. Grimm would only attack doors and windows when there were humans in a house or something, but they would never cause any damage just for the sake of it. Except these Grimm attacked our fountain!"

The stone inside the fountain.

"Are you sure about that?" Jaune asked seriously. The girl nodded meekly, before correcting herself.

"Well, when the Grimm came I decided to run back into the inn and barricade it, but the next day, I stepped out and saw that there was a huge chunk of the fountain just _gone_ and… well, that was that."

The purple-haired girl fell silent after this, looking carefully at Jaune, discerning what his reaction was going to be. She would fall flat out of luck though, as Jaune's face didn't really change according to what was on his mind.

Jaune was never fond of puzzles. He could solve them as well as the next guy, but he hated how puzzles obscured the truth into fragments and forced you to piece together so much information before you could even begin to see the big picture.

What he was able to put together from what Mirisu said however, was nowhere near enough for Jaune to see anything. In fact, it raised more questions than it really answered.

Why would the Grimm attack the fountain? Was it because of the stone? If so, why would the stone attract Grimm to it? Was it because of a hidden property that Jaune didn't know about?

The blonde alchemist was gnashing his teeth in frustration, knowing that his incomplete knowledge of the stone was a part of the puzzle that could've possibly solved a lot of these questions.

 _I need to get back to Beacon and continue to research the stone_. Jaune reminded himself, before remembering that he was in Ravenwood.

"The archives." Jaune breathed out, enlightened. Standing up from his spot on the bed, he turned to Mirisu.

"Hey, you wouldn't know the way to the archives, would you?" The girl hesitated, her eyes creased in pain.

"Well…"

* * *

Pyrrha didn't realize they were being attacked until it was almost too late. The whole walk from the inn to the edge of town had been amicable and cool, Pyrrha and Ren simply chatting with each other, relishing a chance to actually get to know each other without their respective partners. Even though they were both on the same teams, they hadn't had much of a heart to heart of any kind, one being too busy with his hyperactive partner, and the other trying to drag her reclusive partner into society.

"Do you think Jaune's going to be ready for the Vytal Festival?" Ren had asked a minute ago, making Pyrrha give a confused affirmative, asking Ren why he thought Jaune wasn't ready to fight in the festival.

"Oh I didn't mean the fighting," Ren said, backtracking, "I meant that when we win, is our leader ready for the _interviews_?"

The answer was no, no matter how hard Pyrrha thought about the question. She would've answered Ren too, if it wasn't for the sudden fact that the hair on the back of her neck stood on end, and in an instant, Pyrrha rolled to the side. Ren, being no slacker with his sixth sense, had also leapt away suddenly, turning his body to the side as well.

Large crates toppled from above, from the buildings on the side of the two of them, crashing right where the two were seconds ago. With a quick scan of the surroundings, the two of them surveyed the situation, trying to find a culprit.

Whoever did that was quick though, and they were only able to see a bit of the top of their heads before the windows were shut and locked. Ren and Pyrrha looked at one another, confusion and wariness set on their faces, wondering what that was all about.

Keeping both of their weapons out, the two of them carefully looked around again, finding themselves almost inexplicably surrounded as men and women emerged from darkened alleyways and filtered into the streets to form a loose circle around the two teammates.

"…Is there something that we can help you with?" Pyrrha asked politely, keeping her sword pointed towards the ground, but her shield up in a halfway position. Ren did the same with StormFlower, having them rested comfortably in his hands but pointed towards the ground. A heavyset man stepped up into the forefront, a frown on his face and his arms crossed sternly.

"We don' want y'all here." The man said gruffly, before twitching his head to the side. "Leave."

The two didn't react outwardly to the man's abrupt demands, instead keeping their expressions polite.

"I'm sorry, but we can't leave until we've finished out mission." This time Ren was the one to speak up, looking directly at the man, but without challenge in his eyes. "We will leave as soon as possible."

The man's eyebrows creased downwards, and the whole crowd seemed to shift and ripple a little in response. At this point, even Jaune would be able to notice that the crowd was somewhat unhappy. Ren and Pyrrha _weren't_ as oblivious as their leader was however, and could relate the tension to thunderclouds gathering, and rumbling menacingly.

"Don' want you to go later. Want y'all to go now." The man took a step forwards, most likely trying to scare what he saw were two kids into submission. Instead, Pyrrha flicked her wrist upwards, bringing Miló into javelin form and pointed it towards the man's chin, bringing him to a quick stop.

"Sir, I do not want to hurt you, but if you continue to be threatening towards us, I _will_ have to fight back." Almost as if she was reciting from a textbook, Pyrrha continued. "Realize that I am only acting in self-defense, and although I will try to be as non-lethal as possible, I will not hesitate to protect myself."

Ren didn't say anything, instead simply making sure that he flicked the safeties off of StormFlower as slowly as possible, making sure that the group surrounding them would be able to hear it. The Beacon students had hoped that this would cause the mob to at calm down enough that they could get out, but it seemed to only make the people more restless, the crowd murmuring and gripping anxiously at their makeshift weapons. Again the big man spoke, this time to the crowd.

"Did you hear that everyone? They threatened us! Are we gon' put up with this like we did last time?" The crowd's murmuring turned angry, a sharper edge being heard, making Ren and Pyrrha grip onto their weapons a little tighter. The man continued to rile the crowd up. "Are we gon' let Hunters trample over us again and again until they take what they want? No! This is the _last straw_! Attack!"

In a blur of motion, the pair reacted instantaneously once they heard the man's last words, Pyrrha bringing up her shield and Ren flaring his aura out before nodding to each other. With a battle cry from both of them shaking the crowd into almost a hysteria, the two of them charged while the mob went into absolute panic. Taking advantage of that, Pyrrha and Ren tensed their knees… and charged the opposite direction, trying to get as much distance from the mob as possible.

In layman's terms, they were retreating.

The man that was commanding the mob just moments earlier picked himself up from off the ground, where he had fallen in fear of getting cut down by the seventeen year olds.

"See that? They know they can't handle us! After them!"

With those words, the angry mob cried out, some in determination, some in anger, some in fear, and gave chase to the two kids.

Apparently, it seemed as if RWBY _weren't_ the only team that attracted unwanted attention.

* * *

"W-what happened here?" Jaune said in open-mouthed wonder, looking at the Ravenwood Archives. Or at least, looking at what had happened to them.

Jaune reached out with one hand, touching the blackened doorway. Mirisu looked a little pained, hands clasped in front of her solemnly.

"Around the time the… Mistral Hunters came to Ravenwood, the Archives were burned down. Luckily it was in the middle of the night, but… everything's… well, everything's gone."

Jaune turned to look at the purple-haired girl in surprise, along with a look tinged in suspicion.

"Are you saying that they burned down the Archives?" Jaune asked, furious that anyone would do such a thing. Mirisu quickly denied him of a target however, shaking her head.

"Actually, the Hunters were having a chat with the village elder during that time, with a whole host of people watching them. But…" The girl hesitated, before continuing on, "A lot of the folk here don't know Hunters very well, so they still think that it was the Hunters' fault. Something about the fact that their magic could've done something even if they weren't there."

Jaune nodded, understanding of how mysterious Hunters could be to the general populous. With all of the crazy semblances that Hunters have, it wouldn't be a far stretch to believe that a Hunter could burn a place down without even being close to the place.

"A-and you guys don't have like, a back-up of this place? Some kind of basement with a second copy of all the stuff?" Jaune was reaching at this point, hoping beyond hope that by some miracle he could still get his hands on any alchemical documents.

Mirisu quirked her lips a little, looking slightly annoyed.

"If we had something like that, I assure you that the loss of the Archives wouldn't have been such a great deal." Jaune winced at the tone, and was quick to apologize.

The two of them stood in front of the Archive ruins for a little longer, before Jaune sighed a little and turned around, ready to make his way back to the inn.

"Thanks for showing me this Mirisu, I really appreciate it. I think I'm just gonna head back and—"

Jaune's scroll lit up, ringing insistently. Knowing that the only people who would be able to contact his scroll was his teammates, he pulled it out, opening the scroll up.

"Jaune there's been an emergency! There's a whole mob chasing us trying to kill us!" Pyrrha said frantically. A loud ping sounded close by on Pyrrha's side as a rock hit a little too close to the Amazon. Jaune turned, wide-eyed at Mirisu, who was practically mirroring his own expression.

"Wow. I knew they were frustrated, but I didn't know they were rip off heads frustrated." Mirisu said dazed, before snapping into focus. "Jaune, tell Pyrrha that if they go to the northwest side of the edge of the village, there's an abandoned shack there they can hole in." Jaune nodded in thanks, turning to the scroll.

"Did you hear that Pyrrha?"

"I did! I'll send the directions to Nora and we can all meet up there!" Another loud crack echoed through the scroll. "I have to go Jaune, I'll see you there!"

And with that, the scroll went dead, leaving Jaune looking at a black screen. Turning to Mirisu, Jaune asked, "Can you lead me to the shack?"

The purple-haired girl nodded, setting off on a sprint. "Follow me!"


	21. What They've Been Searching For

**A/N: IMO the next few chapters are gonna be rated E for... exciting! Lul, this is gonna be fun fun fun. Enjoy!**

* * *

Mirisu wasn't kidding when she said shack.

When Jaune and the hotel receptionist arrived at the shack, Jaune had to stop short for a second, looking at the building.

It was small.

It was old.

And it did _not_ look like a very safe house, which was concerning, since Jaune was relying on it to _be_ a safe house.

"This way." Mirisu said, gesturing for Jaune to follow her, which he did so reluctantly. The purple-haired girl knocked on the door before she stepped back and waited patiently. The door jerked open quickly, and before anyone could react, the point of a spear poked the underside of Mirisu's chin, causing Jaune to pull Crocea Mors out from its sheath in alarm.

Nothing happened for a brief second before the tip lowered itself and a head of red hair popped out from under the doorway.

"Oh thank Dust you're alright." Pyrrha said in relief, sheathing Miló and stepping aside. Jaune let out a sigh of relief before sheathing his sword, berating himself for not noticing that was Pyrrha's javelin and not a random spearhead.

The two entered into the shack, Jaune looking around the interior. The inside was as empty as the outside, with only a bed and a drawer on one side. The walls looked empty, the floor was made of the same wood as the walls, and everything just smelled a little bit _off_.

Jaune was distracted with any further observations by a loud hiss coming from the corner. Turning, he spotted a cat, all of its hair raised looking at Mirisu before it jumped through a window. Everyone looked at the girl who was twiddling her fingers a little abashedly.

"Animals don't really like me." She admitted, causing a small look of sympathy from Ren and Pyrrha. Jaune pat her shoulder, giving a reassuring smile.

"That's alright, animals don't like me all that much either." It had something to do with the fact that he messed around with the balance of nature, which probably left a bit of a "stench" on him that most domesticated animals tended to avoid.

Mirisu smiled wanly before shaking off the pity, face serious again.

"We need to keep you guys safe until the town folk calm down. You guys should be able to stay here without anyone bothering you." The purple-haired girl said.

"Why not?" Nora asked, head tilting a little to the side in curiosity. Mirisu winced a little before rubbing her arm, looking at the four teammates.

"Well…" She said, before reluctantly saying, "This place is rumored to be haunted."

Eyes widened in surprise as they looked at each other. "Haunted?" The girl waved her arm almost carelessly.

"It's just rumors. You know, screaming and moaning in the shack when there's no one in there and such and such. As you can see though, no screaming, see?"

Jaune stepped back a little, accidentally knocking a metal can over and making a loud clang, causing one of the girls to scream almost hysterically. Everyone turned to look at the red-haired Amazon, who was blushing bright red.

"I—I'm not a big fan of ghosts." Pyrrha squeaked out, embarrassed. Jaune made a small sound of surprise in the back of his throat. Huh. So even Pyrrha was scared of something.

"Anyways," Mirisu drew the word out a little bit before turning back to Jaune, "I'm going to go back and see if everything's calmed back down. I'll be back before nightfall with some more food and some pillows and stuff." Ren frowned a little, stepping forward.

"You shouldn't be outside when it's about to get dark. It would be quite dangerous." Again Mirisu took what Ren said and disregarded it, shaking her head.

"Don't you worry about me, I do this all the time. I know how to keep myself safe." Mirisu grinned coyly. "Thanks for the concern though."

Without another word Mirisu stepped out through the doorway with a wave, disappearing back into the town. The four of them looked at each other for a bit, wondering what they should do with their spare time.

"Why don't we just see what we've been able to gather in the… five or so hours that we've been here." Jaune said, forgetting with everything that happened that they had practically _just_ arrived here. What is it with his luck man?

Pyrrha and Ren looked at each other before shrugging. "We didn't really get anything done much. We tried talking to the people around here but… they didn't seem to be very happy to see us." Pyrrha admitted. Jaune frowned, before nodding and turning his attention towards Nora.

"What about you Nora?"

Nora shook her head. "I got nothing." Jaune grit his teeth, a little frustrated. Now, on top of trying to figure out what happened in the village, he had to make sure the town didn't try to lynch them for doing their job either!

Jaune could feel the edges of a headache creeping up on him.

"Okay… so basically, we have nothing. Alright then. Wonderful way to start a mission." Jaune said flatly, before settling down and resting the back of his head against the wall.

"Well, maybe Professor Goodwitch will find something." Nora said suddenly, causing Jaune to snap forward, remembering their chaperone.

"Professor Goodwitch! Do you know where she is?" Jaune asked Nora. With the help of an experienced Huntress, maybe they would get out of this yet. Nora smiled sheepishly though, answering his question before she even said anything.

"No… all I know is that she called me and told me to meet up with you guys and that she needed to do something."

Jaune bit his tongue, wanting to scream at something. It was getting to the point where he just wanted to lie in bed, not even bothering to do anything. Taking a deep breath, Jaune tried to gather up his thoughts, trying to plan up the next steps.

"Okay. First things first. We can rest here until Mirisu comes back. After that, we need to find Professor Goodwitch, who I'm pretty sure will have a better idea of what to do afterwards than I do." Jaune said. The other three nodded, settling down and not bothering to talk, Ren closing his eyes and almost slipping into a meditative state while Nora slumped back and fell asleep pretty quickly. Pyrrha opened up Miló to its fullest form and started to clean the pieces, keeping it maintained.

Jaune, with nothing else to do, hunkered down beside his partner and idly watched her clean her weapon, taking note of the complex machinery that made it work.

Never let it be said that Jaune wasn't smart however, and while a part of his mind was simply relaxing and watching Pyrrha, another was still trying to fit the puzzle pieces together, although he was probably missing dozens of pieces.

Why did the Grimm attack? Well, apparently they were attracted by the fountain in the square right? Well, if that was the case, why did the Grimm attack _now_ , when that fountain's been in Ravenwood since the beginning of its founding? And did the burning of the Archives have anything to do with the Grimm attack?

Jaune needed more information, and the only source he could reliably get it from was in the middle of an angry town, trying to get information of her own.

A sudden movement, or lack of it, made Jaune turn his attention back towards Pyrrha, who had stopped what she was doing and had raised her head up high, a frown visibly marring her face.

"Is there something wrong Pyrrha?" Jaune asked. Pyrrha tilted her head to the side, and slowly turned around, as it she was tracking something outside of the hut.

"Do you hear that?" Pyrrha asked in a low whisper, causing the hairs on the back of Jaune's neck to rise a little. Straining his ears, he tried to listen in and see what Pyrrha was talking about. All he could hear was the gentle wind outside, as well as a few crickets chirping. But… was that…?

Breathing?

Jaune stood up slowly, leaning forwards to get closer to the doorway. Yeah, he was certain. There was shallow breathing coming from the other side of the doorway. At this point, Ren had snapped out of his trance and quietly woken Nora up, all four teammates tense. Jaune gripped Crocea Mors and slowly drew it out, the sword rasping as metal touched metal. It wasn't the loudest sound, but it was unmistakable to anything else, and was enough for whatever it was that was on the other side of the door to hear it.

A lot of things seemed to happen at once during that moment. Pyrrha used her semblance to open the door, jerking it wide so that whoever standing there would be caught unawares. Ren drew StormFlower out and pointed it towards the doorway, waiting a split second to see what it was before opening fire. The windows on the shack seemed to cave in on themselves, shattering loudly and distracting team JNPR just long enough that a furry blur was able to speed into the shack before Ren could let loose even a single bullet, yowling and jaws aimed at Jaune's neck.

Luckily, Jaune was blessed with enough of a reaction time to allow him to bring his automail arm up to protect his throat, the creature latching onto the arm.

"Gah!" Jaune gave out a battle cry that sounded a lot like a panicked yelp, and tried to shake the beast off. Pyrrha, ever the conditioned warrior, had screamed in fear when the beast attacked before she unleashed a bullet from Miló into its hide.

The beast unlatched itself and gave a pained roar, bounding off and through the window before Ren was able to spray a hail of bullets onto the monster. All of this happened so that that Nora simply stood there, war hammer ready and waiting, unable to contribute at all to the brief scuffle.

"T-that wasn't a ghost!" Pyrrha sounded almost relieved that something tangible had attacked them. Jaune lifted up his sleeve, wincing at the torn cloth.

"No. Definitely not a ghost."

Pyrrha let out a sigh of relief and put away Miló. "Oh thank Dust for that." The blonde alchemist raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Thankfully it wasn't a ghost, but a dangerous beast that could have killed us. Yay."

At least Pyrrha had the sensibility to look a little ashamed for that remark.

"What was that anyways?" Ren asked, keeping StormFlower in his hands. Jaune turned to look at him, frowning. Pyrrha also looked uncertain, but kept her eyes on their leader to see what he would say.

"I've got no idea." Jaune confessed, not sure why they would expect him to know the answer, seeing as how he's probably the least knowledgeable about monsters amongst them. There should've been a bit more discussion going around, but any attempts were cut short by a loud growl, as another beast pounced through one of the windows. This time however, Team JNPR was prepared, Ren firing a few shots at the beast. The monster squirmed in pain and collapsed, unmoving.

The four of them stopped moving, stopped breathing in fact, as they watched the prone figure with disbelief. From the largest to the smallest, killed Grimm were to disappear, almost dissolve into the air. Yet, as the four pairs of eyes looked at the felled creature, the only thing it really did was… well, all it did was lay there.

"That's… impossible." Pyrrha sounded as disbelieving as the rest of them felt, pulling out her weapon as if waiting for the being that lay in front of them to come alive again and try to attack them once more. Nora, being the brave soul that she was, crept up close to the beast and poked it with her finger, curious to see what would happen.

Still nothing, even though Nora was exposing herself.

"So… not a Grimm then?" Jaune asked, not sure who he was expecting to answer the question. A bigger question popped in his mind however: If not Grimm, then what?

"I've never known of anything besides Grimm that would attack a human inside of a house for no reason." Ren observed, adding his opinion into the mix. Jaune nodded, agreeing with the calm-headed boy and adding another thought as well.

"And I don't know any kind of animal that can blow all the windows apart either." The blonde boy said grimly.

Jaune got closer to take a closer look, observing the absolute strangeness that was laying in front of them. It looked… sort of like a lion, almost, except patches of its skin seemed shaved off. A few parts of the fur seemed completely off color, seemingly black instead of the typical yellow-orange that you'd expect. And the tail… Jaune reached out with a couple of fingers to touch the tail and shivered at the feeling of dry scales, like a snake's hide.

Looking closer, Jaune couldn't help but feel as if someone had tried to take several animals and fuse them together, creating this amalgamation of a beast. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Jaune remembered that he had encountered such descriptions before, in a book that he read years back, but couldn't remember the name.

"Did someone sew a snake tail to a lion?" Ren asked. Jaune didn't ned to turn around to know that Ren's face was contorted into a look of disgust, Ren being a lover of animals. Jaune shook his head, pointing to the place where the tail and the body met.

"Look here. No stitches or signs of stitches. If you look closely, it actually looks like the two… almost melted together." Like when Jaune tried to fuse together a candle and a rubber ball once, the two meshing together messily and creating a clear line that showed they weren't of the same composition.

Was that the answer?

Was there something concerning alchemy here? Was that why Jaune had felt unsettled this whole time, because there was something happening that involved _his_ sacred art?

Jaune needed more answers.

Standing up, he looked at the others around him. "Change of plans," Jaune said, his voice for once portraying the commanding tone that was necessary for leading a team, "We're moving out now, and we need to find Professor Goodwitch."

Jaune turned and strode out the door, face angry. No one messed with his Alchemy.

"We're finishing this mission _now_."


	22. The Missing Link

**A/N: I like this chapter. I like it a lot. I hope y'all do too! 3**

* * *

The four of them crept along the outskirts of the town, making sure that they were close enough to see what was happening along the edge and through the alleys of the buildings, but were far away enough that they could all fade away if any one seemed to be looking for them.

"What do you think Professor Goodwitch is doing?" Pyrrha walked slowly alongside Jaune. The alchemist shrugged, focused on the task at hand, and more intent on finding her than wondering what she was doing

"Well, the sooner we find her, the sooner we can ask." Jaune craned his neck to try and look over a particularly tall building. Jaune was ready to scream. No way of contacting the professor seemed to be working. They had tried calling Professor Goodwitch on their scrolls, which amounted to nothing, and they had already visited the inn to make sure she wasn't waiting for them there. They had almost completed a full circle around the whole town, and still couldn't see anything. There were still a lot of options to what had happened to the witch, and none of them seemed like great options for Team JNPR to explore.

One, the professor could be in the center of the town, which wouldn't really be a smart thing, seeing as how the center was open ground, and the villagers were out searching for their blood. Two, she could be searching for them, and the they could _just_ be missing each other, which would really suck. Or three, Professor Goodwitch could be out in the wilds around the town, which pretty much brought the chances of them finding her down to zero.

Jaune wanted to bash his head in.

"Wait a second." Ren stopped them whole team, standing up straight with a look of inspiration on his face. Jaune grew hopeful, mostly because it wasn't an idea coming from Nora, who wanted to just 'rush in and break everyone's legs'.

"All scrolls are connected to a GPS aren't they?" That was all Ren needed to say for Jaune to piece it together, pulling out his scroll. With a few clicks, Jaune found the GPS program, opening it up and searching for Professor Goodwitch's signal. A white screen popped up, with the words IDENTIFICATION NEEDED. Another curse escaped Jaune's lips. Nora popped in, her head pushing through.

"Lemme have a look." Nora snatched the phone out of Jaune's hands and fiddled with it. However, before Jaune could really protest, Nora handed it back to him with a cheeky smile on her face. Access was unlocked. Jaune looked at Nora with disbelief, unable to imagine her doing something like this. Nora offered no explanation, only smiling her usual smile.

Although Jaune couldn't help but see a bit of a mysterious spark in her eyes.

Jaune pushed it out of his mind, having bigger concerns to worry about. Looking down at the map, a single point slowly blipping on the screen. With a huge grin, he turned to Nora.

"Thanks Nora." The girl saluted, a happy smile on her face. With a nod, Jaune oriented himself towards to marker and set off.

"Let's go!"

* * *

The damned blip had disappeared.

Jaune was about ready to throw his scroll against the wall. They had finally made good progress, getting really close before the blip on the radar seemed to just disappear, causing the team to stop and try to figure out what had happened.

"Maybe the scroll ran out of Dust?" Pyrrha suggested helpfully. Jaune snorted, knowing that while that option was plausible, they were Hunters.

Nothing was ever that simple.

"Well, do you remember where it was last seen?" Ren asked, also helpfully. Jaune took deep breaths and thought about it, realising that getting mad wouldn't help them. Nodding, Jaune pointed to the cluster of houses that were shown on his scroll.

"It was around here." Ren nodded, before pointing and sectioning the cluster into four.

"Then we'll split up and cover everything more quickly this way."

Jaune paused for a second, weighing the risks out in his mind, before nodding. Everyone could take care of themselves from any irate villagers. And if there were any more of those… creatures…

"Everyone has their scrolls on them right?" Jaune asked, looking at the other three. They nodded, pulling them out.

"Alright then. If you find Professor Goodwitch or run into any trouble, call everyone else, alright?" And with another nod, Team JNPR split up and went on the search for their missing chaperone.

* * *

There was something wrong in the air. Jaune wasn't sure what it was, but something was making the hairs on the back of his neck rise, and he couldn't help but constantly look behind him; he was sure that there was someone watching him. In fact, the paranoia that he had so carefully cultivated for years was going haywire, and Jaune had Crocea Mors constantly out. He even chose to deploy the shield that he hated so much, reasoning that it would at least provide another avenue of defense in case there was a sudden ambush.

Jaune wasn't sure how his teammates were checking the house, not wanting to think about how Nora was dealing with it, but with a quick clap of his hands, Jaune was able to create a second doorway to enter through. The first few houses he looked through were empty, nothing of use to him, before he stumbled into a family having their dinner. After an awkward few words from Jaune were exchanged, he slowly walked out of the house, changing the doorway he made back into a solid wall.

After that incident, Jaune had learned to be more careful, transmuting a few inches of a house's wall and creating a physical tremor that Jaune used to see if there was anyone inside the houses.

The process was lengthy, as he was still holding Crocea Mors in both his hands, and the vibrations that he used wasn't something he was really adept at, only able to gather conclusive evidence that no one was home after doing it several times.

Placing his hands on the latest house, Jaune shifted the walls once more, an invisible ripple moving through the house. This one was a little different from all the other ones. As he had moved closer and closer to the building, the feeling in the air only got more and more intense, to the point where he almost wanted to run in the opposite direction. Every house around this one seemed pretty much abandoned, where Jaune didn't even bother to scout out the last few houses. This one though, Jaune made damn sure that it was empty. And even then he wasn't sure if he wanted to enter.

The ripples that Jaune received back were different as well, he was not sure if it was the house or whatever strangeness was happening that was affecting his alchemy. But for whatever reason, he was receiving signals that made the house out to be bigger than it actually was.

He reasoned that he wasn't used to using the skill. He clapped his hands once, wincing at the echo that rang through the narrow streets and placed his hands flat against the wall, creating a doorway for him to enter through. Jaune made sure that his grip on his sword was secure and closed his eyes briefly, letting out a breath before pushing against the door gently, letting it open soundlessly to reveal the inner room.

It resembled a living room, really, with a comfortable dark blue couch, along with a television and a coffee table covered with a purple cloth. It resembled a living room because, well, it _was_ one, something that didn't really relieve Jaune's nerves at all. Stepping into the space, Jaune's eyes slowly scanned the room, making sure there weren't any bogeys hiding in the shadows. As the sun was slowly sinking, the light in the room wasn't optimal, but wasn't really something that bothered Jaune particularly.

With the apparent notion that the room was supposedly empty, Jaune lowered his sword and shield a little bit, turning to look around at the house. There wasn't really any sign of Professor Goodwitch, but Jaune was intent on finding out why the house was so… creepy. After all, the tension in the air was something that resembled alchemy but… more. Or less.

Jaune needed more information, and he wasn't going to do that by standing around. He grimaced a little, knowing that he didn't have a choice but to look at everything more carefully, and closed his eyes, activating something that he hadn't used in a long, long time.

When he opened his eyes again, the right eye had changed, from the light blue that it usually was to a yellowish tint, ringed in purple. Jaune stood still, not moving as his brain got used to the change in signals, as his eye turned on its light sensitivity mode, letting Jaune see more clearly in darker areas. It also categorized objects and made more subtle parts of the room clearer.

Kneeling, Jaune looked carefully at the couch, trying to see if there was anything that he could glean from it. It was a nice looking piece of furniture that was for sure. In fact, it looked rarely used, but also showed evidence of having been bought for longer than six months or so. Sweeping his gaze towards the television, he found a layer of dust on the machine, but concluded that it was also rarely used, as the layer of dust on the front of the screen wasn't much different than the one of the back.

Jaune didn't understand. Who had a living room that wasn't used, but still had very nice and expensive furniture? Jaune looked downwards at the floor, trying to see if there was anything he could gleam there.

Even then, there was nothing but a thin, even layer of dust that made Jaune think that no one had stepped into the room for a _very_ long time. Jaune moved away from the living room, entering what looked like a kitchen. Again, sparsely decorated, but anything that _was_ there seemed very well-made, if not well-used.

Every room following that was the same deal. Dusty, almost never used, but was carefully placed to make the house look homely. There was something that Jaune was missing, but couldn't find. Walking around the house, Jaune was practically pacing, chewing on his lower lip to try and find an appropriate answer.

It was when Jaune started to tap his foot when he stopped that he started to notice something. When he tapped his foot against the kitchen floor and the living room, he could hear a slight difference. It wasn't very obvious, but there was enough of a difference for Jaune to latch onto the idea that he _had_ found something interesting. Using the a small variation of the vibrations test he used earlier to see if the house was clear, Jaune sent the wave downwards and around, to see if there was anything unusual about the floor.

Ah ha.

Jaune scurried over back to the living room, staring at it. There was something in this room that he hadn't found yet. Walking around and tapping his foot every once in a while onto the ground, making sure that he wasn't missing anything.

But every time he did so, there was the same noise, distributed perfectly across. He was still missing something. And so, Jaune resorted to the long and arduous process of looking at the floor inch by inch, trying to find a scuff, a mark, _anything_ that Jaune could investigate.

Finally he found it.

For something that wasn't used very often, it was strange to find faint track marks near the table, as if it had been dragged repeatedly back and forth across the floor. Jaune grabbed the tablecloth and flipped it over, to look through the clear glass of the coffee table.

He almost yelled in excitement as he found a trap door underneath. It was small, but it certainly was there. Casting away any caution that he held onto his mind, Jaune pushed the table aside and pulled the trapdoor open, revealing a ladder that seemed to delve into the darkness underneath the house.

Taking a deep breath, Jaune started to descend quickly, one foot down after the other, and when he could find the floor again, he took a small hop, straightening up before standing still again, only seeing dark shapes. Sure his modified eye could see a lot better than most, but it still needed a little bit of light to function.

Uncertain of what to do, Jaune took a step forward, only to be flooded with lights, as some unknown command lit the place up, temporarily blinding Jaune and making the headache caused by using the eye to get even worse.

After Jaune was able to adjust to the light, he dropped his hands, looking at what was before him.

A laboratory.

No.

Jaune wasn't going to call this a laboratory.

As he turned and looked at the dozen of cages with animals, some Grimm, some not, not dying, some not, he saw things that he wished he could unsee.

There was a myriad of animals that looked like someone had taken parts of other animals and sewn it onto them. Some of them started to moan and cry, almost human-like as the lights startled them. Some sounded human, some sounded… not so human.

And Jaune wasn't sure which one made him more scared.

So many cages that he couldn't even count them all, and every one of them so different. Jaune was sure of one thing though.

They were all suffering.

Jaune's attention was caught by a large cage in the center, which held what he was looking for.

Professor Goodwitch.

Thankfully, there didn't seem to be anything different about her, a few injuries, her blouse seemingly a little more ruffled than before, a few scratches in a few places, but overall, she seemed alright.

Hurriedly, Jaune pulled out his scroll, getting into contact with his teammates and trying to ignore the rattling of the cages and the cries of the animals.

As the line picked up, Jaune looked at his group with a bleak expression.

"You all need to come here now. I've found Professor Goodwitch and… and some other things."

They could hear how grim Jaune sounded, and looked ready to sprint to him. Pyrrha nodded first, asking, "Where are you right now Jaune?"

"I'm close to the northeast of my sector, at the house where—"

The scroll shut down, the call cut off completely. It might have been bad service. It might have been the outstretched black spike that had suddenly appeared above his shoulder, piercing the scroll in his hands and rendering it useless, as well as nicking him a little in the shoulder.

Jaune had barely begun to comprehend what had happened when the shadowy spike almost disappeared, receding backwards.

Jaune whirled around, sword in hand as he faced his opponent, who raised her claws, smiling grimly.

"Hello Jaune. I was sure I asked you to stay in the shack." Mirisu purred, licking the trail of blood from one of her claws.


	23. Fighting for Their Lives

**A/N: And another one. Enjoy!**

* * *

Most of his life, Jaune was considered somewhat of a genius, even though it was really alchemy that allowed him to be so. And so, most of his life Jaune had it easy, understanding things that were taught to him (usually he had to teach himself a lot of things) and it wasn't very often that Jaune was either speechless or dumbfounded.

And so, Jaune was able to get a little bit of practice in as Mirisu started to laugh, pointing at him with a deadly sharp finger.

"Oh, I should have brought a camera or something! That look on your face… absolutely delicious." The purple-haired girl grinned maliciously, placing her hands on her hips, posing almost seductively. Despite still being dressed quite modestly, it still brought attention to her chest and hips, areas that made it difficult for Jaune to look her straight in the eye.

"W-what are you?" Jaune asked, hands clenching. Mirisu frowned at Jaune, eyes big, pretending to be wounded by the question.

"Aw Jaune. You can't ask that to a girl. It's kind of rude." Mirisu nodded, looking at her fingers, which had momentarily turned back into normal human fingers. Jaune took a step away from the girl, mind racing, thinking of a way to survive this.

Professor Goodwitch was still trapped behind him, knocked cold. The only way out that Jaune could see was behind Mirisu, and Jaune had a feeling that she wasn't going to just let him walk past with his professor in his arms if he asked nicely. Jaune had a tight enough grip on Crocea Mors that it was shaking, nothing too dramatic, but enough that Mirisu could see.

With another smirk, the girl took a step closer, causing Jaune to fall into a stance that he hadn't used ever since he began fighting with his sword. Sword raised high, body slanted, Jaune kept his shield forward and his legs bent slightly, so that the sword could cover almost all of his body.

"Aw," Mirisu pouted, putting a finger on her lips, tilting her head sideways. "I think it's a little rude to point weapons at a lady, isn't it?" The finger trailed down to her collarbone, striking another seductive pose. Jaune still didn't say anything, mind continuing to race along to find a solution.

"Could you kindly step out of the way and let me through?"

Mirisu's eyebrow rose, and she gave a short laugh. "Oh, so you _can_ be polite. How sweet. You know what? Go ahead." With that, the girl stepped to the side, sweeping her hands majestically to show Jaune the door, almost bowing to go along with the motion. Jaune blinked in surprise, keeping his shield up. Slowly backing up again, he tried to get closer to Professor Goodwitch.

Mirisu thrust a hand out, a single claw extending at incredible speeds.

Jaune hadn't fought with his shield in a long time, but it didn't take a genius to use one effectively. And after training for so many years using just his metal arm as a shield against his father, Speed Demon Nicholas Arc, the shield was a lot easier, being a lot bigger. It didn't take much to raise his arms a little higher to protect himself.

A quiet thud echoed behind Jaune as the claw landed a ways away from him. Jaune gave a quick glance backwards, to see that the finger had buried itself a few inches away from where Professor Goodwitch lay.

"Oh, but I think she can stay here."

Jaune was stuck, frozen. He had several options, none of which were savory to choose from. He could leave Professor Goodwitch behind and gather up the rest of his team, but Jaune didn't even know if Mirisu would actually let him leave. He also didn't know what she would do with the professor if he just left here. He could stand here and fight… but that didn't seem like a good idea either. Or…

"Why're you doing this?" Jaune asked. Mirisu withdrew her claw, before using it to tap against her lips. Shrugging, she smiled at Jaune.

"Because it's fun. Now, what's your choice? Leave? Or stay?" She wasn't having any of it, not bothering to answer any of Jaune's questions, perceptive enough to know when someone was trying to stall for time.

Looking around, Jaune could see the animals surrounding him again, many of them having woken up after Mirisu had crept down. Almost none of them made a sound though, simply staring at the girl.

"Do you like them?" Mirisu noticed his glances at the creatures, a pleasant thrill running down her spine. "I made them myself. Found them from around here, and though 'oh, they must be _so_ bored with it all'. I mean, _I_ certainly am." This time, when the girl smiled, Jaune swore he could see teeth as pointed as icicles.

"Many of them objected. Violently." Mirisu's voice sounded sulky, as if she was a little girl who owned a disobedient dog. "So I tore out several vocal cords." Again she smiled that horrifying smile. "I don't know if it was painful or not. Probably because they couldn't really scream."

Every word that came out of the girl's mouth chilled Jaune to the bone more and more. Things were starting to fall in place for him. For the last hour or so, Jaune had been desperate to find the missing puzzle pieces that would unlock the bigger picture. Now he's been thrown handfuls of the pieces at the same time, and it took a lot of scrambling to straighten the image out.

"I'm still waiting for that answer. If you don't choose soon, I'll choose for you, Alchemist."

Jaune's heart picked up speed at the mention of alchemy, his hands starting to grow a little clammy.

"The stone in the middle of the fountain." Jaune decided to ignore the warning for now, sure that he could protect himself if the monster standing in front of him decided to lose patience and pounce. "That was a philosopher's stone, wasn't it?"

Mirisu growled lowly, a little upset that Jaune hadn't chosen yet, the tips of her fingers slowly forming into the pinpoint pricks.

"Of course it was. Those idiot villagers always did wonder why so many people died so often." A little laugh.

"Wait." Another puzzle piece thrown at him, this one not looking like any of the other ones sent his way. "What do you mean?"

"Huh?" Mirisu looked confused, before her eyes widened in realization. A short burst of giggles flew from her throat.

"Oh my. She was worried about you? When you don't even know about information as basic as _that_? Ah, she truly is overestimating you." Mirisu shook her head, almost in disappointment. "Well, nothing to worry about now. Time's up."

And with that, her claws weaved forward, intending to pierce through Jaune.

Raising his shield, the alchemist blocked almost every claw, one flitting through and striking his ankle, aura flaring briefly to protect that spot. The force that struck Jaune's shield surprised him, pushing him backwards and making him lose his balance briefly.

It was enough for the girl, who let her other hand burst forward as her first set of claws retracted. Jaune scrambled to clap his hands together, placing a few fingers onto his shield, causing it to expand large enough to cover his whole body. Unfortunately, it made the material as a whole thinner, allowing the claws to puncture through after a brief second of impact.

That was enough for Jaune, who had unstrapped his arm from the shield and clapped his hands again, placing them on the floor and bringing a section of it upwards, crashing into the ceiling, a much sturdier form of protection as he ran up to Professor Goodwitch, bringing his sword down with a clang, breaking a chain that held one of her limbs.

A resounding roar announced the entrance of Mirisu through Jaune's makeshift wall, carving a hole that she gracefully stepped through. Once she caught sight of him, she once again let loose, five fingers elongating and attempting to make a Jaune-kebab.

Sacrificing defense for offense, Jaune knelt down and slammed his hands against the floor, wincing a little as all five fingers crashed into him. A scream was heard from Mirisu, as a pole of earth rose to the ground and planted itself onto the chin of the girl, blasting her backwards. Jaune staggered into a standing position, Once again taking advantage of this time to transmute another wall separating Jaune and Professor Goodwitch from Mirisu, as well as striking another chain off of the teacher, allowing her the freedom of both her arms. The professor crumpled to the ground, nothing to hold her aloft, still knocked out cold.

Again, Mirisu blasted a hole through, looking a little peeved. Jaune however, was totally prepared, throwing something he had transmuted after he succeeded in striking the second chain at the purple-haired girl. The object exploded, a flash of light and deafening thunder released in her face, making her howl, more animal than woman.

While the sound did chill Jaune's blood, he took the time to do another transmutation, creating another rise of ground that blasted her back, this time also plugging the hole in the wall almost perfectly.

"That should hold for a little longer." Jaune muttered, before returning to the task of striking the rest of the chains apart.

"Enough of this." Jaune almost jumped in surprise as Mirisu spoke from behind. Slow to react, the girl backhanded him hard enough that he flew to the side, crashing against a wall of cages.

Again, aura protected him from any fatal injuries, but it still sure as hell hurt. Jaune groaned pitifully, trying to stand up before the claws flew over and struck him, nailing him onto the wall for a brief second, his aura protecting him enough so that he was punctured through. Again, before he could react, it happened again. His aura dutifully protected him, but flared a little weaker than before.

"Hmph. I still don't see what she's so worried about. You're barely fun enough to play with."

The claws struck him while he was laying down this time, making him grit his teeth in pain. Jaune didn't move from his position though, curling himself into a ball.

"Oh come _on_." Mirisu rolled her eyes as she stepped closer to the boy. "You can't _possibly_ be giving up already. _Man_ what a pushover." Bending over, she pulled him up into standing position, where Jaune smiled and opened his hands, releasing a bunch of gravel, transmuted to be a little sharper than natural, into Mirisu's eyes.

"Argh!" Mirisu staggered back, eyes blinded. While she did have fast regeneration, it was hard for her eyes to recover if the specks hadn't been removed yet. Feeling a sharp pain on her lower chin, she stumbled back even further as Jaune punched her.

Taking advantage of the blinding, Jaune didn't waste any more time trying to fight someone who would clearly outmatch him, Jaune ran towards Professor Goodwitch.

A sharp pain from one of his calves stopped him, making him topple over screaming. Jaune twisted his body to see one of Mirisu's claws cleanly stuck into his legs. The girl grinned, looking a lot less sexy with blood and gravel on her face as she blinked the obstructions away, some of it sticking onto her teeth.

"Alright." She breathed a little heavily, eyes glowing an unearthly color. "Not as bad as I thought you were. Still annoying. But something I definitely should put down now." Another claw sunk into his shoulder, causing him to scream again.

"And once I finish with you," She panted heavily, "I'll have some fun with your precious teammates." With a little twist of her fingers, Jaune was sent screaming again, vision swimming in and out of consciousness.

"No one messes with my students."

"Huh?" Mirisu looked up, not having much time to do anything else as an enormous ball of debris smashed into her body, sending her flying, her claws retracting out of Jaune.

"Wow—ow!" Jaune yelped. "Pulling out was way more painful that I thought!" He said, gritting his teeth.

"No time for jokes Mr. Arc. We need to get out of here." Jaune looked at the upside down Professor Goodwitch, no wait, he was the one upside down.

"Do you think you can beat her?" Jaune asked, hopeful. The professor frowned, shaking her head.

" I might've been able to, but she had injected me with something earlier. I can't seem to focus my powers enough to fight at full strength." Jaune nodded slightly, able to see the slight shaking of the professor's hands.

Okay. That was okay. With Professor Goodwitch awake, Jaune had another avenue of escape.

"Okay. I have a plan."

"I'm sure you do Mr. Arc. I hope it won't get us both killed?" Professor Goodwitch's eyes roamed, making sure Mirisu wouldn't pounce without them knowing. Jaune winced at the question.

"No. Er. Probably not." A small pause. "I'd give a 50/50 chance. Or maybe—"

"Please Mr. Arc." Professor Goodwitch sighed out, eyes closing briefly. "Just tell me what I need to do before our chances get any lower."

And so he told her.


	24. An Conclusive End

**A/N: A little later than usual, but I had to pick up mah gramma so... yeah. Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 **Beta: Prince of Austria**

* * *

Mirisu barely looked like the girl that Jaune had been talking to a few hours ago. Caked in dust, bloody, and the tips of her claws reaching her knees, Jaune didn't need much to push the image of a harmless girl from his mind and replace it with the monster standing in front of him. Baleful eyes looked at the boy, teeth bared.

"I am at the end of my patience." She spit the words out, claws flexing. Jaune smiled, almost mirroring Mirisu's in viciousness.

"Good 'cause so am I." Jaune knelt down quickly, placing his hands onto the ground. Mirisu lashed out as well, attempting to kill Jaune before he could do anything else. The claws missed however, and the ground below Jaune exploded upwards, creating a platform that propelled Jaune. This allowed him to flip upwards and land on top of a nearby cage. Jaune clicked his tongue as he wagged his finger and shook his head. Mirisu bellowed in rage, lashing out sloppily again, widening her fingers so as to catch Jaune no matter how he tried to move.

Except of course for falling backwards, as Jaune dropped below and the claws aiming for him struck against the bars of the cage, causing the creature inhabiting it to howl furiously. Jaune nodded and placed his hands on the cage.

"Sorry about this." He murmured, before transmuting the cage doors, unlocking them and allowing for the thing to escape from its cage, howling.

Mirisu cursed and almost casually flicked a finger towards the approaching beast, cleanly beheading it without a thought. The distraction, brief as it was, allowed Jaune to slip away into the jungle of cages, fading away from Mirisu's sight.

"Hiding now?" Mirisu resorted to taunts, head whipping around to try and spot the alchemist. "I didn't realize Hunters cowered from monsters now."

"Yeah? Well, I'm certainly not a Hunter."

Mirisu flung her claws in the direction of the sound, before the claws sunk into a solid wall. Focusing, the purple-haired monster could see a hole shaped loosely like a speaker where the sound had come from. Pain erupted from the back of her head as Jaune struck her with his automail arm, causing her to stagger backwards a little, one of her claws still retracting.

Pressing his advantage, Jaune spun his sword, slicing a deep cut through her neck, then a larger cut from her shoulder blades to the opposite hip, before finally spinning and with both hands, cleanly slicing through one of her knees.

A pained wail echoed through the cavern as Mirisu fell. Jaune took a step forward to drive Crocea Mors into Mirisu before she turned and struck him with her clawed hand, lifting him off of the floor and flinging him into a cage.

Head swimming, Jaune slowly sat up, hand still firmly gripping his sword.

Mirisu heaved large breaths, closing her eyes and groaning, almost shouting as her wounds started to close, her knee cauterizing and a growth extending from the stump. Eyes flashing, Mirisu stood up on her lone leg and lashed out with her claws once more, attempting to impale Jaune.

Without much time to react, Jaune raised his automail arm to protect his vital parts, two claws piercing through the arm. Another two however, sliced cleanly into him, one close to his hip and another creating a shallow cut on his chest.

Mirisu withdrew her claws, her expression dark as she leapt forward, the arc high in the air, claws ready.

Jaune rolled to the side, quickly clapping his hands together and simply vibrating the floor, causing dust and debris to lift into the air, making something of a makeshift smokescreen.

Everything fell silent at that moment, Jaune even taking the time and effort to slow his breathing down and hope it was shallow enough not to be heard. His automail arm twitched sporadically, and on closer inspection, he could see that Mirisu had managed to cut some of the wires that allowed fine motor movement in his hands. Shaking his head, Jaune clapped once, placing it on the floor.

The moment he did so however, Mirisu appears, howling in rage, claws extended. With a bit of quick reflexes, and a whole lot of luck, Jaune rolled to the side, barely avoiding the points of the claws. That didn't help when the girl flung her arm to the side though, hitting Jaune and throwing him to the side _again_.

Jaune was getting tired of being literally thrown around. With shaky knees Jaune stood up once more, expression grim. It was going to take a lot for him to pull out of this one alive. Hopefully, the sooner Professor Goodwitch could finish her part of the plan, the sooner he could get the both of them out of here.

"Argh!" A feminine voice cried out in pain, and Jaune's heart sank, knowing that Mirisu's voice certainly didn't sound like that.

"Professor!" Jaune hurried toward the origin of the sound, eyes straining to see through the fading smoke. As the cloud disappeared, Jaune stopped, spotting Professor Goodwitch. Mirisu had forced her down onto her knees, a clawed hand wrapped around the witch's throat. The monster smirked at him tauntingly.

"How about you put down that sword sweetie? I wouldn't want to have to defend myself and have my hands… slip." With that word, the hand around the blonde woman tightened just enough for her to give a strangled choke of air, making Jaune's hand tighten.

"Alright! I'm putting it down." Jaune said, doing just that. The alchemist kept his eyes trained on Professor Goodwitch, trying to convey the question.

 _Is everything ready?_

Professor Goodwitch twitched her head, almost imperceptible to Jaune. Unfortunately, with such a tight grip on her neck, Mirisu felt the small movement, frowning. Jaune, hoping that the professor had actually understood and answered his question correctly, placed his hands on the floor. Mirisu didn't hesitate, a claw flying out and cleanly slicing through his arm.

She took too long, as the area surrounding her started to glow.

"Let's see you try and dig your way out of this one." Jaune said, grinning as he pulled out a piece of chalk, quickly drawing a small circle. With the girl distracted, Professor Goodwitch focused and flicked her hands upwards, wrapping Mirisu with telekinetic energy and tossing her upwards into the air.

The homunculus screamed in rage, twisting in the air and trying to orient herself so that she could strike one of them again, but was interrupted when a rock fell from the ceiling and clipped her on the side. She was propelled downwards by the strike, body thudding onto the floor. Before she had any time to recover, another rock, this time the size of her upper torso fell onto her. More and more rocks continued to fall as Jaune's artificial cave in started to weaken the structure of the base of the house that they were on top of.

Finally finishing his circle with one hand, he called out to Professor Goodwitch, who quickly limped towards the boy. Touching the circle caused the ground to heave upwards around Jaune and the professor, effectively covering them. Jaune hoped he made the barrier thick enough to handle a house falling on top of them.

## #

Pyrrha was worried. That was a bit of an understatement.

There was a burning bit inside of her stomach, whatever liquid it contained boiling vigorously, her chest starting to hurt from the rapid beating that was happening. Ren and Nora followed close behind, not wanting to split up again and risk being isolated once more. They had all quickly made their way to Jaune's section, and not knowing where to find him, started barreling down houses one by one, sometimes literally as Nora had her way with some of the places.

Almost reaching to the end of the line of houses, Pyrrha felt vibrations shaking under her feet. She stopped her teammates, asking if they could feel that.

Before anyone could answer, a house to the far right sunk almost a feet downwards, parts of the walls falling apart, the windows shattering. Team NPR stared at the scene, before the house continued to fall in jerky motions, the ground swallowing it foot by foot. Halfway through, the building gave up resisting, and completely broke into pieces, sinking all the way into the ground with a thunderous roar.

There wasn't any more question of where Jaune was.

That was a Hunter's mess if they ever saw one.

They all rushed towards the site, stopping once they found the edge of it, having to jump a little backwards when the hole continued to widen, actually pulling in another half of a house before the sinkhole stopped expanding.

They peered into the pit, trying to look for any signs of life before Pyrrha resorted to her semblance, trying to find any signs of metal that would point to Jaune.

"Find anything?" Ren asked, waiting patiently, if not a little anxiously, to see what Pyrrha could dig up. The Amazon's brow furrowed in frustration, her head shaking.

"I—I can feel metal. But there's a lot of it." Another shake of the head. "They had to have been in some sort of room underneath there, because there's a lot of metal, and none of them—wait! I might have found something! There!" Pyrrha pointed at a spot of in the pit. Nora was quick to move, jumping down and digging the spot, trying to find what Pyrrha had found.

The next two or three minutes were filled with Pyrrha and Ren waiting nervously, afraid to see what Nora would dig up.

"I found it guys! I—" Nora stopped shouting, her face falling into an expression that wasn't seen very often with her. Sorrow.

"What? What is it? What is it?" Pyrrha said almost frantically. The usually collected girl started to stumble down into the pit, catching the stricken expression on Nora's face. It only sank further and further the closer Pyrrha got. Even Ren looked worried, eyes filled with emotion. Nora looked at Pyrrha, sniffing as her eyes filled with tears. Shaking her head slowly, Nora stood up, turning away to let Pyrrha see, the Amazon's eyes widening.

In the middle of the dig site, an automail arm, laying dead and unattached to its owner. A choked sob escaped her throat as she turned away from the limb, not wanting to look at it, instead focusing on Nora, who had wrapped her arms around Ren, burying her head into his neck. Ren's eyes were grim, a prominent frown on his face.

Letting out a shaky breath, Pyrrha tried to speak.

"I—um. We should probably… Dust, I don't…" Pyrrha couldn't say anything else, covering her face with one hand, body trembling. Ren nodded, patting Nora's back, mentally reassuring Pyrrha that she didn't need to do anything right now, to take her time and absorb what happened. So Pyrrha did, looking around the crater.

What she saw was almost enough to draw her out of her grief, and move her into a state of heightened fear.

"Ren…" The boy let go of Nora, turning to see what Pyrrha was seeing.

A cage, with a dark animal, looking like a big cat of some sort, lay there. It shouldn't have been something to frightening, but the eyes…

They were so startlingly human.

"What…" Pyrrha said in horror, taking a step back. Turning around, whipping her heard back and forth, she found several more cages like that, animals of some sorts with human-like eyes, deformed and hideous in some way. It sickened the girl to the core, which only made things worse when they all started to scream.

Help, they all screamed, every voice different, all of them sounding the same. Like a human's. If Pyrrha had screamed as well, it would've only mixed in with the others, drowned out in the suffering of the humans trapped inside the cages.

Pyrrha would've screamed, but she was too busy throwing up, hand on her chest as she lost it.

"This is sick." Ren said, his voice filled with anger and disgust. Nora didn't bother saying anything, closing her eyes to it all and simply keeping a firm grasp on Ren's hand.

Pyrrha wasn't sure of what to do, but she knew how to start. With a focused mind, she used her Semblance, wrenching the door of the big cat's cage open, letting it go free. One by one, she did the same thing to every single one of the cages, letting the beasts loose.

The cat, a jaguar, or a puma of some sorts, leapt out of the cage and to Pyrrha's feet, creeping forward before raising its—his head, their eyes meeting.

A sudden crack caused them to break eye contact, Pyrrha turning to find that one of the large rocks had broken open, slowly revealing a figure sitting there. Or rather, two figures.

"Jaune." Pyrrha whispered, voice filled with awe. "Professor Goodwitch!" The three of them ran to the two blondes, both of which were very out of it.

"Jaune! Are you alright?" Pyrrha frantically checked his body for injuries. Which there were a lot of. "Your arm! Oh, I found your arm!" With a flick of her wrist, she brought the automail limb towards them. Jaune gave a small grin.

"Thanks… I think I'll need a.. hand putting that back in."

Pyrrha gave a choked laugh, smiling as tears started to form. "You idiot," something she said _very_ rarely, "I think you'll need a whole arm." Jaune actually gave a weak chuckle for that.

Ren and Nora gave the two partners some space, taking the time to talk to Professor Goodwitch, to try and make sure that she was alright as well.

"I have had… _enough_." A voice that slid like steel against steel said, causing all attention to turn towards the source. A battered, bloody body, with stumps for an arm and both legs, lay there, looking hatefully at the group.

"M-Mirisu?" Another twist that caught Pyrrha off guard. The purple-haired girl grinned a bloody grin, blood staining her teeth.

"I am… _tired_ of getting slapped around. Kill them!"

Pyrrha didn't know who she was talking to for a moment, before realizing that she had just unleashed a horde of beasts that were under the control of Mirisu. The black cat turned his head towards the team, eyes staring quietly at them. Every other creature did the same, unmoving.

The big cat then turned his sight on Mirisu, jumping and landing beside the girl, teeth bared. The homunculus snarled.

"I knew it. What did I expect from someone who ran away from the White Fang? A traitor through and through."

The cat didn't answer though, instead opting to lunge at her throat, trying to tear it out. The girl laughed almost hysterically, her only arm thrust into the cat's chest.

"Not… today you _beast_."

Well, that may have stopped one, but at that moment all of the freed creatures, the deformed humans, leapt towards the prone Mirisu, ripping and tearing her apart.

"No! NO!" Her wails were ghastly, echoing through the pit and across the whole town, almost loud enough to drown the wet tearing and ripping of the animals chewing her apart.


	25. Explosions

**A/N: I forgot to say this on Monday's chapter but, whoo hoo, 25 chapters! A quarter of the way to a hundred chapters. Not that I'd actually publish that many chapters O.o**

 **Anyways, it's been a crazy week and I couldn't get this to my beta, so every mistake is unfortunately mine. Sorry in advance XD**

* * *

"So how're you going to fix your arm?" Nora asked, looking at it curiously. Jaune glanced at her, a little exasperated that she was starting to ask him questions now of all times.

After the experimented creatures tore Mirisu apart, they seemed to gain minds of their own, scattering like shattered glass across the ground. Within seconds, Team JNPR and Professor Goodwitch were the only people in the crater. The happenings of the last few hours were finally catching up to them, and they had decided that now was as good of a time as ever to take a break, sitting of rubble and taking a breather.

Nora seemed to be the first one to recover, already on her feet and grinning, chatting amicably with everyone else. With her on the job, the sullen atmosphere that occupied their minds started to clear, the team attempting to push the image of the animals tearing a body apart limb from limb.

"I can't really fix it here. I'll need some help." Jaune answered Nora, glancing at his automail arm, which lay across his lap. "I have a friend at home who did this stuff for me, I'll give them a call when we get back to Beacon." Nora nodded solemnly, before giving a grin and turning to face Ren, who was helping make sure Professor Goodwitch was functioning at full strength again.

Pyrrha decided to step in, sitting next to him gingerly. Jaune didn't say anything, waiting for her to make the first move.

"What… what happened in here?" Pyrrha asked tentatively. Jaune snorted a little and glanced back at the spot where Mirisu was murdered, now only seeing bones and blood splattered on rocks, making some of them much more red than they should've been.

"A fight happened." Jaune said shortly, inhaling a little before continuing. "I was searching through the houses when I found this one, went downstairs and found Professor Goodwitch, where we both decided to fight our way out." He shrugged, his normal hand playing with his dead metallic ones, something that Pyrrha was having a hard time watching.

"Yes but… your arm…." Again Jaune shrugged grinning weakly at the girl.

"Hey, at least it was this arm and not the other one, right?" Pyrrha frowned, not amused at the joke.

"It will still hinder you for a while though. And I was just wondering how she could've torn through the metal."

"Her claws were… really sharp." Jaune said, downplaying the danger with a dry tone. Shaking his head, he stood up. "It really doesn't matter. What's done is done, and I, uh…" Jaune squinted at the mess of blood and organs again, spotting something. "And I…" He trailed slowly, before moving forward. Pyrrha's brow creased in confusion as she stood up, making her way to follow him.

"You what, Jaune?"

"Give me a second here." Jaune muttered, walking hurriedly towards the spot. It couldn't be… No, that was definitely it.

"I _did_ read about this before," Jaune continued speaking to himself, much to Pyrrha rising frustration. "It makes sense… She did seem to act like… but then there has to be…" Like a lunatic, Jaune grit his teeth, forcing his mechanical eye to activate, trying to pick out something in the dwindling light of the setting sun.

Suddenly, the eye lanced in pain, moving erratically and blinding Jaune as Pyrrha got closer. Pyrrha jumped back in surprise, before moving forward to help him. She was stopped when Jaune held out a hand, hissing.

"Stay.. stay back!"

"I- I'm sorry Jaune, what's happening, is there anything I can do—"

"Yes! Stay… back!" With those words Pyrrha stepped further back, eyes wide with concern, and a little bit of fear. Taking a few deep breaths, Jaune wrangled his eye back to order, blinking away the tears that had welled up in that eye while it was doing so.

A bit of silence continued on before Pyrrha decided to speak uncertainly. "Is… is everything alright Jaune?" Jaune nodded shakily.

"Yeah, I—yeah. I think my eye reacted badly to your Semblance."

Pyrrha gaped, putting the pieces together. "Your metal eye… and my magnetic semblance… oh my. I'm so sorry Jaune." The alchemist waved her away.

"It's fine, nothing to really worry about. I'm surprised it didn't happen any sooner, with us being partners." As always Jaune deflected the concern with a joke, chuckling a little. Pyrrha once again frowned, rubbing her arm.

"It might have also been because you don't spend as much time as one usually would with their partner." Jaune cocked an eyebrow, surprised to hear Pyrrha be so… aggressive towards him. He had never heard her take that tone towards anybody. Jaune was stunned enough to actually say that to her, in which she blushed a little.

"I'm not being aggressive! I just—You just frustrate me!" Pyrrha blurted out, flustered. Jaune blinked in surprise. Pyrrha pulled out a complicated expression, uncertain as to whether or not she should explain. Finally she gave in, slumping down a little, something Jaune had never seen her do.

"When… when we first met, it was such a surprise, finding out that someone hadn't known about me and my 'achievements'. It was so… so new to me. The moment that happened I started to hope that… I was hoping that you would be my first real friend in a long time." Pyrrha confessed, making a point not to look at Jaune. He was glad of that, grimacing at the reminder of how distant he was towards her in the beginning.

"Then when you didn't… _do_ anything but read and isolate yourself, I just. I just thought you were antisocial, and didn't like making friends. I had trouble with that at first, but I settled on the fact that I could break through after a while, that you didn't really seem like you hated me—hated us." Her face turned bitter. "But then you just say a few sentences to Blake and you guys end up becoming best of friends. You guys share secrets and hide away in places that no one knows about…" Pyrrha covered her lower face with her hands, eyes closing. "And still I thought that maybe it was just easier for you to make friends with Blake because you and her were similar."

Jaune opened his mouth, then closed it again, looking away. It's true, he'd been a rather terrible partner. Pyrrha continued, her hands clenching.

"Then you started to talk more with Yang. And Ruby. And… and everyone else but your teammates, until we finally bring it up with you!" Pyrrha's eyes squeezed shut again. "And even then you didn't seem like you enjoyed our… enjoyed _my_ company all that much." Her lips pursed tightly for a second before she continued, abruptly yelling. "Do you know how that makes me feel?!"

Jaune recoiled, stepping backwards at the intensity of Pyrrha's angry glare. "I—"

"Don't!" Pyrrha stopped him, inhaling. She continued softly. "It hurt. It hurt that I was _your partner_ and I couldn't seem to even be friends with you. It. It made me think. Made me doubt myself." Pyrrha looked him in the eyes, emotions roiling inside of her. "I couldn't help but think the only reason why people stuck around was because I was just a good fighter." Pyrrha ended her rant with a whisper, her eyes slipping towards the ground.

For a moment Jaune was speechless, frozen where he was standing.

This was the problem with him. He only focused on himself, never paying attention to anyone around him. What was the use of all of this special knowledge if he always decided to be alone? Sure, there was the excuse that he had a rough childhood but…

Looking at Pyrrha, he was reminded that while she hadn't had her arm and eye torn out of her body, her life had been hard too.

There was never a good way of comparing emotional pain. They scarred the same.

Jaune reached out with his hand and wrapped her in a one-armed embrace, surprising her. Hesitantly, her own arms crept up and tightened around him, her head buried in his shoulder.

"I'm sorry I made you feel that way." Jaune whispered quietly. "I promise I wasn't doing it because you've bad company. If anything _I'm_ bad company, seeing as how all I ever talk about is alchemy or 'beating down bad guys'." Pyrrha snorted a little with that, but didn't say anything, letting Jaune continue. Jaune hesitated, trying to think of what to say. "I'll be a better partner." Jaune declared, deciding that was the best course of action. "I promise. No more leaving you to the side." Pyrrha sniffled a little, looking frail, frailer than a four-time Mistral Champion should have, and looking more like a vulnerable teenage girl. Which she was, Jaune reminded himself.

"…Okay." Pyrrha said, nodding. Jaune smiled, moving back a little to look at her tear stained face, lips curved into a small smile.

"Really?" Jaune asked, not blaming her if she just wanted to cut ties to with altogether. Pyrrha nodded vigorously, her smile growing.

"Yes Jaune. Let's start over." Jaune smiled at that.

"Let's."

The two of them grinned and stood there, not saying a word but simply feeling that something… something changed, if only a little bit. It was a start, and maybe it was something the both of them needed.

"Augh, what a disgusting display."

The hair on Jaune's neck stood straight up, hearing a voice that he was _sure_ he would never hear again. Turning around, he could see Mirisu, sneering at the two of them.

Given, half her body was gone, and only the upper chest and head, as well a stump of an arm was there, but she was there.

Alive.

How?!

"What..?" Pyrrha sounded horrified, taking a step back. Mirisu leered at the two of them, before gesturing towards Jaune with a nod of her head.

"Mr. Suave here probably knows exactly what I am, don't you, kid?" For someone who only had a part of a part of her whole body, she was being awfully arrogant, Jaune thought in annoyance.

"You're a homunculus." Jaune said shortly, stepping forward. Mirisu cackled, hair flying in different directions as her head rocked back and forth. Jaune could see it now. Just standing here, Jaune could see that parts of her were growing back.

"It's a relief that you know _that_ much then. Thank Ouroboros for that." Mirisu purred a little. "Don't worry Jauney~ Give me a little longer and you won't need to think anymore."

"Like I'm going to let that happen." Jaune snarled, stepping forward. There had to be a stone somewhere on her body, it's what's keeping it functioning. Now where, where… There!

Jaune lunged forward to grab the stone before flesh completely closed over it, but was quickly stopped by Mirisu's lone arm, turning into a sharp point to try and impale him. With quick thinking and middling reflexes, Jaune stumbled to the side, collapsing onto the ground as he avoided the spike clumsily. The homunculus growled, redirecting the spike to impale Jaune.

Pyrrha had started to move the instant Jaune had, which wasn't a moment too soon. She used her Semblance to bring up several jagged metal poles, many of which came from the shattered cages, and slammed them down on top of Mirisu's body and limbs. Jaune pounced at the opportunity, diving once again towards the stone.

"I don't think so!" Mirisu whipped her head and her tongue, oh Dust her tongue, lashed out, meters long and clocked Jaune on the head, causing him to topple to the side.

"Jaune!" At this point, Ren, Nora, and Professor Goodwitch had noticed the commotion, and were rushing towards them to help. Jaune righted himself and pointed towards the exposed stone.

"Aim for the stone! Aim for the stone!"

Without any need for further explanation, Pyrrha levitated another pole and sent it flying, the hollow insides able to grab the stone and isolate it from the purple-haired girl's mass.

"No!" Mirisu howled, struggling as she could feel the power in her body ebbing away, replaced by unbelievable pain. She screamed and screamed her throat raw, unable to die from the multiple impalements but not able to faint from the shock either.

The sound was grating against the ears, loud enough to travel across the entire town. Jaune struggled to stand up, pulling out Crocea Mors and swinging it downwards, beheading the now-all-too-human Mirisu. The screaming stopped, and Jaune sank down onto the ground, exhausted once again.

He could sleep for a whole week at this point, and was ready to do so before he heard a murmuring from above the crater. Cracking an eyelid open, he found dozens of people surrounding the crater, looking horrified at the scene of carnage around them. A man appeared and pointed to them hatefully.

"See?! See what happens when we let Hunters do what they want in our town?!" The man was practically spitting at them in fury. "They destroy our homes! Our infrastructure! And kill one of our own after mutilating her body! These aren't humans! They're monsters! Kill them!"

Jaune groaned, at the point where he was more annoyed now than terrified.

When will this nightmare end?


	26. Going Home

**A/N: And finally, they come home. Enjoy!**

* * *

The door opened up, causing the five of them to look up from their jail cells, revealing a fat, jolly man in the doorway.

"Oh my! It seems you guys might need a bit of rescuing." Professor Port said. This was the one time Jaune will admit that he was glad to see the man, a relieved smile breaking out on his face.

"Peter." Professor Goodwitch said, relief as visible in her voice as it was on their faces. "I'm assuming you're here to pick us up?" The portly man nodded, hopping down the steps.

"Why of course Glynda! I, renowned Hunter extraordinaire Peter Port, has come to your rescue!" The professor wagged a finger, his mustache twitching. "Let me tell you, it wasn't an easy task. I had to convince them that burning you all at the stake would _not_ be a good thing, seeing as how your aura would just make it so that it would last an _unbearably_ long time, and they would get sick of the screaming after the first few hours. Then I had to convince them to let you all loose so that we could bring you back and execute you guys in a more appropriate manner, say like, being drawn and quartered, which will _not_ last hours by the way. Not that we're actually going to do something like that, of course, it's just to put their fears at rest and—"

"Peter!"

"—yes Glynda?"

"As… much as I appreciate you coming to tell us exactly what happened, but I would appreciate it _just_ a bit more if you could let us out and into the nearest Bullhead before you told us all about it." Professor Goodwitch said, a hint of impatience hidden under the thin veil of fake politeness that was coating her words. Jaune nodded fervently in agreement, especially since he would be too busy trying not to throw up to listen to the professor tell his tale.

Professor Port seemed a little disappointed in being interrupted, his mustache drooping before he righted his posture, laughing boisterously.

"Why, of course! I'm sure you all are quite tired of being held in that cage for the past few days. Let me tell you, it's not the worst that can happen. You see, there was a time when I was imprisoned—unfairly of course—for a whole six months in one of the most gruesome prisons on Remnant! I had to survive by killing rats and eating their—"

"Peter!" This time, the anger Professor Goodwitch was feeling was apparent in her tone, causing Professor Port to break his storytelling short, much to the relief of the others in the room, and set the Beacon teacher and students free.

"I was just going to explain, for future reference and all." The professor's voice was almost a pout, but no one was willing to sympathize with him, being trapped in an enclosed, cramp space constantly for the past three days.

"Well, for future reference, people will be much more receptive to listening to you _after_ you've set them free." The burly professor nodded.

"Yes, yes, of course, of course."

With that, team JNPR and Professor Goodwitch stepped into the light for the first time in three days, stretching out their limbs and looking for the Bullhead that would bring them back to Beacon.

Villagers from Ravenwood hung in a loose circle around them, eyes hardened with suspicion and hostility. Jaune's hands twitched a little, hand unconsciously trying to find the hilt of Crocea Mors, before he remembered that his weapons had been confiscated after they were detained.

"All of your weapons have already been loaded into the Bullhead, and the only cargo we have left to transport is five humans, along with a charming, pinnacle example of a Hunter, ha ha!" His words were met with silence, no one really wanting to say anything, eyes flitting from one villager to the next warily, not sure if they would decide to attack again or not.

Their worries were well founded, as the man that had captured them and advocated for the removal of their heads stepped up, face red with anger.

"You have no right to take away these criminals! They killed one of our own! We demand justice!" He roared, waving a literal pitchfork in the air. The villagers clamored around him, emboldened by his show.

"Yeah, burn the Hunters!"

"Tear 'em to pieces!"

"I spent the whole day making those pyres, and I ain't lettin' them go to waste now!"

With every villager that spoke up, the mass got closer and closer, their tools raised into the air. The group of Hunters took a few steps back, except for Professor Port, who actually took a few steps forward, hands open in a gesture of reassurance.

"Now now everyone, let's not make a big deal out of this."

"Not make a big deal?" The man who seemed to be in charge looked incredulous. "They murdered someone! A girl that was barely their age! Why wouldn't we make a big deal out of this!" The professor paused, not sure what to say.

"Now, I'm sure this was all a big misunderstanding." He forced out.

"We saw them standing around half a body!"

"I'm sure it's a _very_ big misunderstanding." The professor amended.

"Well, they're going to need to pay for the misunderstanding!" The man roared, causing the others to roar with him.

"Well, actually, I do have something that might help!" Professor Port said, raising a lone finger. The villagers quieted down, eyes squinting in wariness, wondering what the man could actually offer them.

Professor Port paused, making sure everyone's eyes were on him before he shouted "Run!" and sprinted in the direction of the Bullhead, team JNPR and Professor Goodwitch only taking a second to process the command before sprinting in that direction as well.

The villagers stood there a little while longer, stunned at the gall of the man before roaring and rushing forward, intent on capturing their prey.

The chase didn't last very long, as the Hunters had aura to help them go faster and longer than the large group of civilians, arriving in the Bullhead with enough time to scream at the pilot to liftoff.

The mob only arrived to the edge of the clearing where the Bullhead was parked as the ship was meters up in the air, powering up to leave.

* * *

Jaune and company collapsed onto the floor, happy that they got out of this alive. For the first time, Jaune was actually thankful that he was on a vehicle, too tired to even care about his motion sickness.

"Well, now that we're all safe, maybe I can go back to my previous point, as to demonstate how to survive in a perilous prison fraught with guys who seemed to really enjoy putting their—"

"Actually, I was wondering what might be happening at Beacon right now." Team JNPR quietly thanked their blonde professor for stopping the man before he got on a roll. Professor Port deflated a little, once again stopped in the middle of a grand tale that would unfold.

"Very well. I will have you know that Beacon and Vale was attacked a little over twenty-four hours ago."

"What?" Everyone propped themselves up, eyes wide at the man who grinned at them, preening now that he knew he had their attention.

"Oh yes. We have Team RWBY to thank for discovering the attack soon enough for there to be minimal damage of course, but the battle was almost as glorious as a battle from my old days, back in my prime, when I had to wrestle a whole pack of Ursai barehanded and bare-chested! Let me tell you, do not attempt to try this yourselves, as you will all surely be killed!"

"Don't worry Peter," Professor Goodwitch said, before muttering, "I'm sure no one's crazy enough to do that anyways."

"Yes well, Apparently, Roman Torchwick and the White Fang had opened up a passage from Mountain Glenn to the heart of Vale, and we had a furious fight that ended in the capture of the rouge! Team RWBY was the one who captured him of course, as much as I would have liked to. Alas, I was too busy saving the townspeople from certain death, taking on _hundreds_ of Grimm, sometimes with my bare hands!"

The rest of the trip was carried by Professor Port talking constantly, but barely anyone listened, everyone else in a world of their own.

Jaune tried to set aside his motion sickness to think briefly on what had happened, and what was going to happen. The invasion of Grimm certainly seemed dangerous, but he was sure that Team RWBY got through it just fine, or at least that's what he told himself as reassurance. His thoughts briefly turned to Blake, but he shook his head, having more important, more dangerous things to contemplate.

Putting his hand into his jeans pocket, he pulled out a stone that was blood red, glistening, yet still dark to the light. A Philosopher's Stone, a solution to what he had been searching for years to find. His eyes glanced down at his metal arm, which rested on his lap, given to him hurriedly by Professor Port when they all got on the Bullhead.

He could have his real arm back.

Or at least _a_ real arm back, Jaune amended, turning the stone around in his hand. Pyrrha slid in next to him, eyes attracted to what Jaune had been doing.

"Is that…?" Jaune nodded before Pyrrha could even finish the question.

"This was inside of Mirisu. A Philosopher's Stone." Jaune tried to keep his promise, reminding himself that he didn't need to keep things like this a secret from his own team. Professor Goodwitch had glanced over as well, eyes sharpening as she saw the stone, but electing to keep silent for the time being.

"What can the Stone do?" Pyrrha asked, eyes drawn to the color. Jaune snorted at the question.

"Besides make someone into a homunculus apparently? Everything." Jaune said quietly, the stone hidden when Jaune clenched it tight in his fist. "It makes the all important rule of Alchemy a guideline. Something to only loosely follow, and only when you feel like it." Jaune held it up to the artificial light of the Bullhead, letting a bulb shine through the stone.

"Nothing can be created or destroyed, only changed." Jaune said softly, translating the all important law of Alchemy and the world. "The stone bypasses all of that."

"It sounds dangerous."

Jaune's head rose, looking at Professor Goodwitch, who was looking at him intently. It wasn't a secret or not if it was. In fact, she wasn't even asking if it was, simply stating the fact. Jaune nodded.

"It's very dangerous, and for some reason, for something so powerful… there's not much information about it." Jaune confessed, shrugged as he pocketed the stone. "I don't plan to do anything with it until I know everything about it, and the unintended effects it could cause."

The blonde witch's gaze continued to stare him down, her mind turning furiously over a matter that seemed beyond him. Finally she nodded, relenting to something.

"Very well. As you are the foremost expert in all things Alchemy related, I will entrust its safekeeping to you. Please be careful with it."

Jaune blinked, aware that one of the most controlling professors had decided to let him keep something that could potentially warp reality itself.

"I- don't worry. I'm not letting it out of my sight. And I'm going to make sure it won't do anything except what I want it to do." Jaune promised Professor Goodwitch, promising the same to himself as well. The woman nodded, turning her attention away from him at last.

"I hope your wants will coincide with the safety of others, Mr. Arc." She said softly.

Jaune had no words to offer against that.


	27. Winding Down

**A/N: Knew I was forgetting something. Enjoy!**

* * *

There wasn't much conversation after that, Jaune finally put under the spell of his notorious motion sickness, clutching his stomach and trying his hardest not to be miserable, as well as spread his misery to his teammates, either with his whining or with projectile vomit.

Neither would be appreciated.

A few hours later, the Bullhead decided that it was finished torturing Jaune, and touched down on Beacon soil, opening up its maw to permit Jaune escaping its grasp. The blonde alchemist took advantage of this by collapsing into an unappealing blob, groaning about how the universe seemed to hate him, which was completely uncalled for.

The other occupants inside the Bullhead stepped out, ignoring the pitiful moans as they are used to them by now. Sure Pyrrha and his other teammates cast a concerned glance, but when they saw the usual amount of groaning coming from Jaune, they knew that he would be alright. And he was, picking himself after a few minutes of cursing all modes of transportation that didn't involve his legs.

"What's with all of the smoke?"

Jaune turned to the direction that Nora had pointed to, noticing a few plumes of smoke rising from afar, past the tree tops and almost touching the horizon. Frowning, Jaune struggled to recall what was in that direction. It wasn't Forever Fall, because that was behind them, and it certainly wouldn't be the ancient ruins, because those were a lot closer than where the fires had to be. What was…

The city.

The Valean city that was closest to the mountains, such as Mount Glenn.

"Are those the fires from the Breach?" Jaune asked, recalling what the professors had named what had happened there. Professor Port nodded.

"Not exactly. We have put out the fires, but a lot of the smoke remains, floating in the air." The port professor gestured haughtily. "Although, that wouldn't have happened if _I_ was there, but alas, I cannot be everywhere at once. I have tried, again and again, to convince Bart to clone me, but for whatever reason, he refuses me on the spot." The grandiose professor shook his head sadly. "I will never understand that man."

"And I will never understand you." Professor Goodwitch said quietly under her breath, before robotically consoling the man.

"Pyrrha! You're back!" A speeding blur flew past him, tackling his partner to the ground, making the Amazon laugh and wrap her arms around the speedster.

"I'm glad that you're safe Ruby." Pyrrha said warmly, tightening her arms around the girl. The brunette smiled and buried her head into Pyrrha's chest, squirming a little. "Ruby stop it, that tickles!" The tone was meant to be serious, but fell a little flat due to the red-head's uncontrollable laughter.

"It's nice to see that everyone made it out in one piece." Jaune turned to see his fellow blonde, who sported a grin on her face, hands on her hips. Weiss stood beside her, and even had the tiniest hint of a smile on her face, nodding at each of her friends. Jaune rubbed the back of his neck, smiling at them all.

"Yeah. Piece of cake." Jaune winked, making Yang guffaw, as well as causing Weiss to bury her head in her hands. Grinning from pride, and to hide the shame of punning, Jaune laughed alongside Yang, happy that he was away from Ravenwood.

"Well it's certainly nice to know you're all having fun."

Blake had a similar expression on her face as Weiss, a small smile with her arms crossed loosely. There were a few other things that Jaune could pick out, like her faunus ears wiggling underneath the black bow that she wore, and her eyes subtly flicking up and down to see how hurt Jaune was. So it wasn't a surprise when she started to frown, stepping forward.

"What happened to your arm?" She asked, gesturing towards the stump where his automail arm usually was. Jaune had decided to tie up the sleeve so it wouldn't swing back and forth when he walked. With the concerned outburst, the rest of Team RWBY looked over to see Jaune's missing arm, concern visible on their faces.

"Oh no! What happened Jaune? Does it hurt? Are you going to be alright?" Ruby disappeared from Pyrrha's side, latching onto Jaune instead, mouth agape at Jaune's lopsided figure. Jaune shook his head, using his other arm to push Ruby away gently, laughing.

"It's nothing really. It… kind of got torn off, but I'll reattach it later." Blake frowned at that, crossing her arms.

"Where'd you put it?"

Jaune rubbed the back of his neck, feeling a little embarrassed by the attention focused on him.

"Oh I, uh, I had it on my lap earlier. It must've slipped off when I stood up to… leave the Bullhead." Blake had an amused expression on her face, shaking her head, knowing exactly how he 'exited' the ship.

"I'll go get it for you." She offered quietly, moving into the ship before Jaune could object. Instead, he just kept his eyes on her while she went in, absentmindedly petting Ruby's head. Another second passed before the cat faunus reappeared, hefting the metal arm under her arm.

"This is a lot heavier than I thought it would be." She commented before handing the arm back to him. Jaune nodded in thanks, grabbing the limb and stepping out of Ruby's hug. It was a lot heavier than Jaune remembered it to be, probably because it was always attached to him. Jaune looked around, finding that everyone else was looking at him as well.

"…What?" He asked cautiously.

"Aren't you going to put it back? Your arm." Yang pointed to the automail. Jaune blinked.

"What, like now?" Everyone nodded, not understanding why he was so hesitant. Was it something that he didn't like doing in public? All their fears were put on hold when Jaune burst out laughing, shaking his head.

"Oh no, that's not what I meant when I said _I'd_ put it back." He waved the arm around, the whole thing flailing. "This automail arm is some complex and sensitive machinery. Dust, I wouldn't even know where to start trying to put this back in." Jaune shook his head. "No, I've got someone in my family that knows more about this stuff than I do. I'll probably tell them about it so that she can reattach it during the break." Jaune said thoughtfully, looking at the arm.

"O-oh. Okay then." Pyrrha said, nodding. Jaune snorted in laughter at how awkward everyone looked.

"I'm guessing you guys want to see it put back?"

Everyone nodded eagerly.

"Right." Jaune rolled his eyes. "Well, my dad's coming to pick me up tomorrow when the break starts, so I guess I'll call Pazi and tell her to hitch a ride with him too." The others nodded again, shifting from foot to foot. " _Later_."

"Right. Right. Of course." They all muttered, breaking apart and going back to talking with each other, as well as chattering about the semester break.

The semester was over. Huh. How about that.

Jaune remembered the condition that Ozpin had placed on him when the Beacon school year had just started, telling him to finish translating and interpreting the Alchemy books if he wanted to leave by the next semester. That goal had slowly slipped further and further into the back of his mind as he gained friends when he didn't need to. Jaune was pretty sure that was exactly what his father had planned for him when he sent him here.

"So, how bad was it that you got your arm chopped off over there?" Jaune turned to face Blake, who stood next to him with a small smile. Jaune rolled his eyes.

"It was pretty bad." He said flatly, smiling back at her. Yang seemed to overhear, and stepped in from behind Jaune, wrapping her arms around his neck in a tight hug.

"I doubt it was as bad as our mission, Vomit Boy!" Yang held one hand out, "Imagine, and underground lair, leading through a cave inside a mountain, where we had to stop an explosion from devastating the city! It was epic!" She clenched one fist, eyes shining.

"Last I heard, you guys _didn't_ stop the explosion." Jaune said dryly, trying not to topple over from the hanging Yang, which was a lot harder because of how lopsided his center of mass was. Yang pouted, tightening her grip around his neck.

"We sort of stopped it! Kind of. It was still a success!" She protested.

"Uh huh. Grimm invasion in the middle of the city. To the point where there are still fires that haven't been put out yet. Very successful."

"It. Was. Successful." Came the sudden growl, Yang arms constricting more and more around Jaune's throat, depriving him of air.

"Y-you're right." He croaked out. "Very successful."

"You bet your tush it was." Yang nodded, finally letting go, allowing Jaune to slip out of her grasp and breathe once again. Jaune glared at her reproachfully, rubbing his bruised neck. Blake decided to step in before things got any worse.

"So what happened during your mission?" Blake asked earnestly, having not heard a thing. Jaune hesitated.

"We… tried to figure out what happened during the attack on Ravenwood. Apparently, someone in town caused it and uh, was a monster that had really sharp claws that extended and was experimenting on people and animals."

Yang and Blake didn't move, their minds trying to figure out what Jaune was saying, and if he was just joking or not.

"… What?"

Jaune nodded, going to pull out the Philosopher's Stone out of his pocket before he stopped himself, looking at the two girls.

"If you girls really want to know what happened, it would probably be a good idea for us to go into our rooms before we spoke to each other." Another curious blink from the two girls.

"Well, now we've _got_ to go and figure out what this is all about." Yang grabbed onto Blake and Jaune's hands, pulling them towards Beacon. "To the rooms we go!"

* * *

Emerald tried not to whimper as a book flew past her ear, crashing into the wall behind her. Releasing a shaky breath, the girl loosened her hands, attempting not to look so on guard in front of Cinder.

The beautiful woman in front of Emerald didn't look so beautiful, face contorted and full of rage, a growling heard from the back of her throat. Eyes that flashed black, she grabbed something else on the desk and tossed it again, this time a sharp edge making contact with the thief's cheek, making her stumble, fall to the floor, and cry out in pain.

Cinder whirled around and howled at her. "Don't you dare make a sound!"

The girl stifled her voice, eyes wide and fearful. She couldn't have stood up if she wanted to, her knees were shaking so much.

Cinder released a breath, closing her eyes and forcing her boiling anger to subside, hands flexing, flames spouting and disappearing around her at random intervals. Finally, things started to calm down, and the air around her was only mildly warm, instead of stiflingly hot.

"So, to make sure that I am not missing anything," Cinder said, gritting her teeth and biting out every word. "Not only did the Breach fail… but the… _girl_ lost her stone, and let all of the animals escape?" Emerald took a second to answer, trying to find her voice. Cinder was beside her in a second, hands slamming into the wall beside her.

"Answer me!"

"Y-Yes! Yes Cinder!"

The woman sneered at the trembling form underneath her, before she stood up straight, closing her eyes.

"If she hadn't died, I would have killed her myself." Cinder snarled viciously, turning around and finding a spot behind her desk again. Another calming breath was released.

"Nevertheless, plans will continue along as usual. Has the Amity Colosseum been… renovated to our liking?"

"Y-yes ma'am." The answer was barely a whisper, Emerald still clutching her face as blood trailed through the fingers. Cinder nodded.

"Very well." A pause, as the fiery woman thought of what needed to happen next. "You will need to continue socializing with this Arc for the moment. He, of all people, cannot know of our plans." Emerald nodded quickly, happy to do anything to appease the enraged Cinder. Another nod.

The red-eyed girl wished that Mercury was here now, instead of tying up loose ends at Ravenwood.

Cinder tapped her fingernails against the desk, finally having a semblance of calm.

"Very well. That shall be all for now." Emerald tried to fight a relieved smile from showing, lifting her hand as the wound on her cheek was healed by her aura. Bowing low, the thief started to walk backwards, trying to locate the door without turning around.

"I'll… go back to find Jaune now." She said in a meek voice. "He's probably arrived at Beacon by now." Cinder nodded.

"Very well. Make sure you clean yourself up before you go. You look like a mess." As Emerald opened the door and scurried out, Cinder called out once more.

"Oh, and I would like you to meet me tonight after curfew. Make sure you have your aura full." A brief pause. "And make sure to bring the usual."

Emerald couldn't hide a shiver this time, keeping her head bowed to hide the dread on her face.

"Y-yes, Cinder."


	28. Repairs

**A/N: Wow, so, insomnia's fun. Enjoy.**

* * *

"So, you're not going home for the break either?"

Jaune turned from where he was sitting, spotting Blake leaning against the door frame to Team JNPR's room. Pushing the seat so that he could look at her more comfortably, Jaune shook his head, holding up the latest book from Ozpin's collection of alchemy sources.

"Not really. I talked with my dad and he said he didn't mind me staying out. Said something about how I needed to experience the world as much as possible before I shut myself in my roof again forever." Jaune laughed at the end, knowing that his dad was just joking.

"I'm guessing that he knows you'll do that from previous experience." Blake smirked, straightening up and walking towards Jaune, who gestured to the empty seat next to him. Blake quickly took the seat, settling down in it. Jaune shut the book he was working on, _Speculations on Alchemy_ , and set it aside. Not because he wanted to hide it like before, but because he was done with it for the day.

"I've given him a hint or two." Jaune said, shrugging. "I may or may not have locked myself in my room for a week before. Maybe." Blake laughed at that, shaking her head.

"Wow. And they say I'm the anti-social one."

"Hey, I'm getting better." Jaune defended, pouting. "Besides, there wasn't much to do back home anyways. And my sisters, ugh, my sisters." Jaune rolled his eyes. "I love them all, but having seven sisters who _constantly_ worry about you is so distracting."

Blake smiled softly at him. "I wouldn't know." Jaune opened his mouth, then closed it again, wincing. Before he could apologize though, Blake continued to talk, determined not to bring up the painful past again. After all, they had already spoke enough about her before as it was.

"So no friends back home then?" Jaune shook his head at the question.

"Not really. We lived pretty far away from most people, and I wasn't much of a person to wander outside of the Arc residence anyways." Jaune shrugged. "I mean, there wasn't a need to. I had everything I wanted at home, and if I needed company, one of my sisters would force themselves into my room, dragging me outside." Jaune frowned at a memory a few years back. "Sometimes literally."

Blake raised an eyebrow. "Literally?" Jaune nodded his head.

"Yes. Even with my transmuting my door into a solid wall, they always found a way." Jaune gave a laugh, able to remember the time much more fondly than he had when he suffered it during the moment. "They really cared about me." Jaune said softly, making Blake smile.

"Well, it's nice knowing that you had people that supported you." There was no bitterness in her voice, only a warmth that she wanted to convey to him, let him know that she truly was happy for him. Sure, she was an orphan, but she had made her peace with the fact a long time ago. Jaune seemed to get the message, nodding.

"Jauney~" Yang almost floated through the door, smiling wickedly at him. "Guess who _I_ just met on Beacon grounds?" Jaune stared flatly at her.

"Someone willing to fix your dreadful sense of humor?" He stated dryly, causing Blake to snicker behind a hand.

"Ha ha, no." Yang glared at him and Blake, reminding herself that she had let the two of them be too comfortable around her. Grinning, she decided now was the best time to mess with them.

"Well, whatever. I'll just leave it as a surprise for now. I'm sure you're way too busy with your _girlfriend_ right now anyways." Yang stood there, as if waiting for a reply. Jaune blinked at her, confused. After all, Jaune and Blake had quickly shut down this teasing talk of girlfriend and boyfriend weeks ago, so he wasn't entirely sure why she was doing it now, until he heard a shrill shriek down the hallway.

"No. WAY!" Jaune suddenly felt the need to barricade the door in front of him, hands raised to create a transmutation circle, before remembering that one of his limbs had been neatly lopped off a few days ago. "Ah, milk and cookies." He cursed, making Blake raise an eyebrow on his choice of curses.

A streak of blonde hair moving almost as fast as Ruby would zoomed past the grinning Yang, tackling Jaune backwards, causing him to yelp in pain as his back hit the table edge. Blake gawked at the scene, surprised to see a female version of Jaune hugging him.

"Man, it's been a while little bro!" The girl grinned. "You never seem to call! And what's this about having a girlfriend? You leave us for a few months and you're shacking up with girls without our permission?" The girl shook her head firmly. "Not on my watch you aren't."

Jaune groaned in pain, blinking blearily as he tried to focus on talking with his older sister.

"Pazi, next time, could you _please_ ram me into the desk a little harder? I don't think you dislocated my spine this time." The girl rolled her eyes at Jaune's sarcasm, deciding to teach him a lesson by slamming him into the edge of the desk again, harder.

"Gah! Ouch! Pazi, I wasn't being serious!" Jaune tried to wrestle out of her grasp before he actually lost the feeling in his legs from another brutal attack. Pazi rolled her eyes, placing the briefcase that she had been carrying around, and stepping back and releasing the boy.

"Sheesh, you're such a wimp. It's not like it'll actually do anything besides hurt your aura a little." Jaune rubbed his back in pain, not bothering to tell her that the blunt trauma still hurt like a bitch though. With all of the greetings finally over, Pazi gave the boy a quick once-over, frowning at his missing limb.

"You seem a little lopsided right now." She commented lightly, stroking her chin.

"Wow, you think?" Jaune snarked, casting her a guarded look as she raised a displeased eyebrow.

"You know, I thought for sure that I trained the smart-ass out of you. Looks like not being near me is enough for you to get it back, huh?" The woman muttered, "Guess we'll make reattachment a little more painful than usual."

Jaune's face grew white, having heard what she had said. "S-sorry Pazi."

"That's better." The mechanic nodded approvingly, crossing her arms. "Alright now. Let's get this over with. Where's that arm?" Jaune paled a little further.

"You want to do this now?" He said, reluctance creeping into his voice. Pazi once again raised an eyebrow.

"Well the sooner we do it, the sooner we'll be able to spend the rest of the day, ah, bonding." The platinum blonde girl nodded, happy with the word that she used. Jaune, not so much.

"A-actually, I haven't really have lunch yet, and I was planning on getting some. And then I've got, uh, stuff to take care of." Jaune said vaguely, casting a pleading look towards Blake, whose ears flicked in amusement. Other than that though, Blake made no move to really give out a helping hand.

 _Traitor_ , Jaune's eyes seemed to speak, something that Blake casually ignored, before Pazi caught what was happening and decided to turn her attentions onto the cat faunus.

"And who are you, seeing as how Jaune hasn't been polite enough to introduce you?" The blonde woman stuck out a hand, smiling. "I'm Pazi, third oldest sister of the Arc family." Blake took her cue and shook Pazi's hand, wincing at the superhuman strength that the mechanic seemed to possess.

"Blake Belladonna. I'm a friends of Jaune's." Blake said, schooling herself not to wince as they pulled their hands back, although she did clench and unclench her fist a few times to get the blood flowing in it again. Pazi nodded, and did that thing where an older sibling profiled a younger sibling's friends with laser precision, before nodding in approval.

Blake felt as if she had won something, but lost something else to get there.

"Well, it's good to know that he actually has made friends. Saves me the trouble of arranging another play date for him when he comes back home." Jaune gave an indignant squawk, but was quickly silenced by a look from his sister.

Finally the woman sighed, gesturing Jaune to come closer. "Come on you. Let's get that thing reattached." Jaune nodded meekly and followed her to the door, which slid open to reveal a mass of bodies toppling on top of each other. Pazi jumped back in surprise, while Jaune simply held his head in his hands, not wanting to look at the mess.

"Uh. So. This isn't what it looks like?" Yang laughed nervously, looking back and forth between the two siblings. Pazi raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms. Ruby put an end to any stalling by untangling herself, jumping up onto her feet and smiling.

"Hello! I'm Ruby, Jaune's friend! You must be his sister!" Ruby held out her hand eagerly. The blonde woman took Ruby's hand firmly, giving it a shake.

"Pazi Arc. Yes. There's a lot of people here interested in you, isn't there little brother?" Jaune started to protest, before the other five lying on the floor found their footing and stood up, brushing themselves off. He decided that it wasn't worth the trouble.

"Now, is there a reason why you all were trying to listen in on a private conversation?" Pazi crossed her arms again, looking every bit like a stern older sister. The group in front of her looked away and mumbled a few things, excuses and the like that only made them seem guiltier. Ruby, once again, was the person to step forward in all of this.

"We wanna see you put Jaune back together!" Ruby almost vibrated in excitement, really looking forward it. Pazi on the other hand, shook her head, frowning.

"I'm not so sure about that. It's not all that interesting, and I'm sure Jaune wouldn't want you guys to see him—" Eyes widening, Pazi glanced over at Jaune, who had a horrified expression, knowing exactly what she wanted to do. Before Jaune could even whimper the word no, Pazi turned back around, smiling. Grabbing her suitcase, Pazi turned to Jaune's friends.

"Actually, that would be a wonderful idea. Follow me." Pazi tugged on Jaune, causing him to stumble after her.

"P-Pazi, let's talk about this—" Jaune tried begging and pleading, but Pazi didn't want to hear any of it, continuing to pull on him. Resigned to his fate, Jaune shuffled along, dreading the moment Pazi would reattach his arm.

Finally, with a few questions about where the nearest workshop was located, Pazi plopped Jaune down onto a chair before turning around and rummaging around the place, looking for a few suitable tools to work with.

"Now this is state of the art right here." Pazi picked up a strange contraption and pressed a button, causing it to wail as if being attacked. Jaune clutched the chair he was sitting on tightly, not looking forward to this at all. It took another few minutes before Pazi was done finding tools to mess with, and opened up the briefcase that she had been carrying around with her.

"So, uh, is it just going to be you coming to visit today?" Jaune asked nervously, desperate to try and find something to distract himself with. Pazi nodded her head absentmindedly, picking up something sharp, as well as hauling out sheets of metal that had the same shine to them as his automail arm, which Blake had helpfully carried along with her.

"Yeah. The rest of the family decided now would be a good time to visit Mistral. Oh, Mika says hi, by the way." Jaune nodded, smiling briefly at the mention of his eldest sister.

"How's she doing?"

"Mika?" Pazi scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Same as she always is. Making trouble for the Grimm and playing pranks on anyone that she sets her eyes on. I swear it's like she's the youngest out of all of us." Pazi muttered the last part, before frowning at Jaune, who had obediently taken off his shirt, revealing his lean torso and stump arm, wires poking out. Pazi let out an aggravated noise, clutching the wires and tugging on them slightly, making Jaune yelp out in pain.

"How many times have I told you that you should always bundle your wires carefully if your arm gets detached?" Pazi scolded him, making sure to accentuate the lecture by pulling on the wires again.

"Ow, you said it like, twice!" Jaune winced as her fingers tightened on the wires again. "Besides, I never thought I was going to ever _need_ to bundle up the wires." His sister stared at him with a flat look, before shaking her head.

"Well, this certainly proved you wrong, didn't it?" Jaune didn't answer back, knowing full well she wasn't expecting an answer. Another sigh escaped Pazi's lips.

"Whatever," She said, gesturing Blake to hand her the metal limb. "I had plans to modify this thing anyways. I'm sure you might have thought of something too, seeing as how you've finally been in a fight with someone other than dad." Jaune nodded, already having a few ideas that he wanted to bounce off of her. Pazi nodded, then reached up and forced her hand into his eye socket, making him yelp as she pulled it out. Ignoring the shocked yells behind her as Weiss and Pyrrha turned away from the scene, Pazi examined the eye, which seemed to flicker in annoyance.

"You know, you could've at least warned me before you did that."

"I know." Pazi said with a hint of smug satisfaction. "We should update your eye too. Don't want you having anymore outdated material in your head than you already have." Jaune rolled his, well, eye, but didn't object.

"Alright. I think I can work with this." Pazi said simply, before looking up with a vicious grin. "You ready?" Jaune quickly shook his head, something that she completely ignored as she started her first round of repairs.

Jaune's group of friends, who had initially been there to support him and to see what reattaching the arm would be like, quickly exited the workshop, eager to wipe the image of Pazi chuckling lowly as she went to work on her little brother.

They had enough nightmares as it was.


	29. Semester Break Starts

"You know, you told me that your sisters cared about you." Blake crossed her arms, looking at the boy laying in bed.

"They do." Jaune said weakly. The cat faunus raised an eyebrow.

"Do they show their care by torturing you, or is it just Pazi that does that?" Jaune groaned and slowly lifted himself up, wincing a little as the metal ball inside his eye socket rattled around a bit.

"Pazi's just mad at me. She never liked me talking back to her."

"Who doesn't?" Blake smirked at Jaune, who waved a hand at her. Getting himself off the bed, he checked his metal arm, closing and opening his fist, relishing the feeling of having both arms again. Even if one of them was screaming from the agony of being forcefully reattached and modified by his sadistic sister.

Ignoring Blake's rhetorical question, he nodded gratefully at her, smiling. "Thanks for keeping watch over me." She nodded back, not bothering to say a word. After Pazi had decided that everything mechanical about Jaune was nice and fixed, she departed with a firm hug, explaining to Blake that she needed to watch over Jaune to make sure there were no complications.

Blake pulled out her scroll, dialing the number that Pazi had given her yesterday night.

"What in the Dust do you want at this time of night?" Came the static filled, pissed off voice of Pazi, her eyes rimmed red with lack of sleep. Blake blinked uncertainly at the screen, quickly checking the time, even though she was sure that it was early morning. Blake said so, and Pazi blew out a grumpy breath, peering at the wristwatch she was wearing.

"Damn thing's broken again." Pazi muttered, before looking carefully at Blake again. "Whaddya want?"

Blake shifted uneasily from one foot to the other, eyes flickering back and forth towards Pazi and Jaune, who had an inquisitive look on his face.

"You told me to call you when Jaune wasn't in his 'wussy half-coma' anymore."

Pazi scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Please. It usually takes twenty-four hours before Jaune snaps out of it after I take care of him." Blake answered by turning the scroll around, revealing a sitting Jaune, waving slowly at Pazi with his automail hand. Pazi's eyes widened before her face left the screen, glasses fixed in place.

"Give me a minute, I'll be on my way." She said quietly, before unceremoniously ending the call, leaving a bemused Blake and Jaune standing there.

"…What was that all about?" Blake looked at Jaune who shrugged at her, not knowing the answer either. Blake's ears twitched a little, rotating around her head as if trying to escape her skull.

"You're not wearing your bow." Jaune pointed to the top of her head, before realizing that it was pretty obvious that she wasn't. Blake nodded.

"With most of the people gone for the break, I didn't think there was much of a chance that anyone was going to walk into your room. And the bow is really uncomfortable sometimes." Jaune laughed at that, shaking his head. They sat there in silence for a little while, waiting for Jaune's sister to arrive.

"So, what're your plans for the break?" Jaune finally broke the ice, looking at the quiet girl. "Anything special planned?" Blake shook her head.

"Probably going to catch up on my reading. I've been neglecting it lately, with all of the crazy fighting and stuff." Jaune nodded. "What about you?" Blake asked, head tilted to the side.

"A-actually, I was going to do some experiments with the stone, and I was sort of hoping that you could help me if I needed a hand." Blake's ears stood up straight in surprise, but that was the only indication that she was caught off guard by the offer.

"Well, I wasn't really planning on doing anything during the break anyways." She said finally, before narrowing her eyes. "You aren't planning on transmuting my body in any way, are you?" Jaune couldn't help but glance up and down at Blake due to the question, but quickly shook his head.

"No. Just need an extra hand or two if I run short. Or decide to blow my arm off again." Jaune said jokingly.

"Well, that would be really unfortunate now, wouldn't it?"

Jaune hadn't heard the door open up, but apparently Blake did, jumping to a nearby bed and wrapping herself up with the sheets. Jaune turned to see Emerald walking through, a small smile on her face. Jaune was going to say something snarky back, but anything that he had planned to say died in his throat as he saw the state of Emerald.

There were bandages covering almost every part of her open body, from her arms and legs to her midriff, something he noticed when she shifted and her shirt rode up. There were a few rare spots that weren't covered with anything, and those revealed splotchy bruises, along with a few cuts and scratches. Her face was a little better, but there were still a few darker spots that showed evidence of her getting pummeled.

For there to be so much damage on someone who has Aura…

"What happened to you?" Jaune breathed out, making Emerald wince at the question.

"My, uh, leader. She made a bad call during one of our missions. I took the brunt of it. But, how about you? I swear I heard your girly screaming last night. Wanted to check up and make sure you weren't dead." Emerald smiled, which was hard to do with parts of her mouth a little swollen, only able to manage a hard grimace that didn't look right on her face.

"I-yeah, I was getting my arm reattached, but that's not important!" Jaune gestured for her to come closer, which she did reluctantly. His hands rose to gingerly touch a bruise left on her cheek, making her twitch in brief pain.

"Sorry." Jaune murmured, before continuing on, examining the injuries. Emerald backed away after a minute, head low.

"It-it's alright. My Aura should be able to heal it up in another day or two anyways."

Jaune's eyebrows furrowed, lips tightening into a frown. He didn't agree with how dismissive Emerald was with her wounds, but it was obvious that she didn't want to talk about it. With a reluctant nod from Jaune, Emerald tried to pretend as if nothing happened, smiling at Jaune again.

"I was just making sure you were alright." Emerald repeated. Jaune nodded.

"Yeah. My arm got chopped off during the mission. Lucky it was the metal one, huh?" Emerald laughed, nodding.

"Sounded like a rough mission."

Jaune rolled his eyes. "Tell me about it. Even when I try and get away from trouble, it seems to find me and chop off my limbs." Emerald shook her head in amusement.

"Well, maybe you can tell me about it when you've got the time. Glad to see you're alright then."

"Yeah. Glad to, uh. See you too." Jaune said awkwardly, trying hard to keep his eyes focused on hers and not the numerous injuries that she was sporting. With another few meaningless exchanges, she waved him goodbye and departed, meeting face-to-face with Pazi.

"Uh. Hello?" She offered awkwardly. Pazi didn't say a word, eyes critically examining the girl. There was a dismissive nod, and Pazi stepped to the side, letting the girl exit. Waiting for a second until she couldn't hear Emerald's footsteps anymore and looking at Jaune.

"You should be careful around her."

"Why?" Jaune wasn't going to just let her say something like that to his friend. Pazi scowled, marching up to the boy.

"Because I have a bad feeling about her. Call it my big sister intuition, or maternal intuition, or whatever. She's suspicious."

Jaune scoffed at that, but took a step back to distance himself. "How would you know? You didn't even talk to her."

"I don't need to talk to her to know she can't be trusted. Just keep an eye out on her, alright?" Jaune nodded, if only to placate his sister than actually agree on what she was saying. Pazi raised an eyebrow, somehow doubting that Jaune was taking her seriously. Pointing with her chin, she asked, "What's wrong with the kitty?"

Jaune turned to see Blake kneeling beside a nearby bed, covers wrapped around her head.

"She isn't wearing her bow." Jaune assumed, something that was solidified with a nod from Blake, who rose up and pulled the sheets off from over her head, placing them back onto the bed.

"Tsk. I'm still not sure why you would want to hide something as adorable as those cat ears but… I guess I'm not one to talk." Pazi turned her attention towards Jaune, eyeing his automail. "Huh. The arm seems to be working fine. Everything looks to be alright. How's the eye?"

"It's a little wobbly." Jaune replied back, standing still for his sister.

"I'll have to tighten it later then. Everything else is… in good condition then?" Jaune nodded, which made her frown. "Then why are you up right now?" Jaune shrugged a little helplessly.

"Maybe I'm building up some resistance to the pain?" Jaune offered helpfully. Pazi rolled her eyes.

"Didn't sound like that when I was reattaching the arm." Pazi scoffed, blowing some hair out of her face. "No, you still dealt with the pain like a baby. And in the half a dozen or so times that I've done this with you, it's always taken at least a whole day before you came through." Jaune shrugged, unable to find a suitable solution.

"You aren't… taking any drugs, are you?" Came the suspicious question, something that Jaune was quick to reply to.

"No, I am not on drugs, Pazi." Came the flat answer. She stroked her chin thoughtfully.

"Well, something's altered your body in a way that I can't tell. And I'm not sure I'm okay with that." Pazi tapped her chin. "How much blood can one lose before they die?"

"You are not taking my blood. Or cutting me open." Jaune said firmly, glaring at the girl. She waved at him, dismissing the unspoken accusations.

"I'm not going to experiment on you, dear brother. I don't have the tools required to do so. Tell me, you aren't carrying anything that could alter your body or Aura, would you?"

Jaune almost shook his head as a negative, but stopped short, pulling out the blood-red stone that he had taken off of Mirisu's body.

"I've got this." The Philosopher's Stone, an absolute unknown that even he knew nothing about. What Jaune didn't expect was for his sister to react so violently, backing away several steps and gasping, almost overdramatically. Jaune knew better though. Pazi wasn't the type of overdramatize anything. Dust, if anything, she'd be accused of her lack of care in most cases.

"Put that away. This instant, do it now." Pazi commanded, something that Jaune was all too eager to do, putting it back in his pocket.

"Do you know what this is Pazi?"

The woman calmed down, shaking her head. "No."

"No?" Jaune looked at Blake, who also looked confused. "Why did you look so scared if you don't even know what it is?"

"It's like I said Jaune. I don't need to know what it is to know there's something wrong with it." She almost spat the last words out, her face twisted into disgust.

"Wrong with it? Pazi, this is the key for me to get my arm and eye back." Jaune argued, pointing at his pants pocket. His sister looked uncertain, glancing at it again.

"I… don't know Jaune. Something about it disturbs me." Pazi shook her head, clearing her thoughts. "Whatever the case, be careful with it." Jaune nodded.

"I was planning to. I'm going to do a lot of tests to make sure everything's alright with it."

Pazi still had a doubtful look on her face, but nodded reluctantly. "Very well Jaune. Play it very carefully. I have a feeling that… I feel that if you do the wrong thing with it, it could end us all."

Jaune had nothing to say to that, wordlessly nodding towards her.


	30. The Grim Secrets of Alchemy

**A/N: You know, I'm a really forgetful guy, and my beta reader seems to be too nice to mention that I _keep forgetting to credit him_. Smh. Please remember that the Prince of Austria is my beta, and he looks through all of this stuff, super thankful to him. **

* * *

**Beta: Prince of Austria**

* * *

"You know, when you said you were going to be looking into the stone, I assumed that we would be doing something with it."

Jaune turned to Blake, who held a book in her hands, _Les Secrets du Monde Naturel_ , another older book about alchemy. The two of them were sitting in Ozpin's office, poring over the books that he held under close supervision. Jaune had only managed to convince the Headmaster for them to do so yesterday evening, with the condition that Blake and him would have to remain in the Headmaster's office the whole time.

It was pretty distracting for the first hour or so, but after the time ran its course, Jaune and Blake learned to tune the man out, who simply sat at his desk and went over a ton of paperwork, only the sound of pen on paper coming from Ozpin.

Jaune shook his head, holding up his book. "I would rather we be safe than sorry, and get as much information as we possibly can about the stone as possible before doing any physical testing." His mind recalled what had happened during the events at Ravenwood, and shivered at the image of Mirisu in her monstrous form, grinning at him.

He'd rather _not_ turn into that, thank you very much.

Flipping another page of the book, Blake grabbed a small sticky note and carefully applied it on the page she was skimming through. She didn't know the dead language, but Jaune had instructed her on how to spot interesting words such as 'stone' and 'philosophers', marking them so that Jaune could go through them later on.

"I don't know why I'm helping you." Blake sighed, eyes scanning carefully through the handwritten book. "If I wanted to read something, I would read my novels, not this stuff." Jaune quickly glanced up at her, looking into her eyes. She had a light frown on her face, but she didn't actually look too ruffled, so Jaune returned to his reading, turning to the next marked off section.

"Well, why don't you? I mean, _I'm_ not the one forcing you to do this." Jaune said lightly, eyes darting back and forth on the page. Another sigh escaped Blake's lips.

"Yeah, well, I guess I'm just so used to having company that it feels weird being alone, even if it _is_ only for a few days." Blake admitted, shrugging as she closed the book, marking one last section. Jaune made note of where he was on the book and closed it, holding out his hand to grab Blake's book. Murmuring a quick thanks, Jaune opened the book to the first marked off section, hunting for the elusive information.

"Ha. I knew we'd get through to you."

Blake scoffed and turned her head, reaching for another book. This time Jaune stopped her.

"Actually, I've got enough for now. If you want to read your own books, I don't think I'd mind the company." Blake smiled, ears flicking underneath her bow as she slyly pulled out a book from behind her, one that looked a lot more recent than the ones that Jaune was going through.

"I knew it." Jaune said in amusement, shaking his head. Blake didn't bother saying anything in her defense, simply shrugging and cracking the book open, beginning to read. Following by example, Jaune did the same, eyebrows scrunching together as he attempted to decipher the sloppy handwriting.

"I'm surprised you could read anything this guy wrote." Jaune commented, even making a show of tilting the book sideways. Blake nodded, a small smirk appearing on her face.

"Yeah. I guess that's a credit to my supernatural eyesight, I guess." There was a loftiness in her tone, as if she was trying to emulate Weiss when the heiress wanted to brag about her achievements. Jaune laughed softly and continued to read.

 _The Philosopher's Stone is a man-made creation that is incredibly powerful, able to alter the laws of nature and subjugate the world to man's will._

Jaune leaned back, snorting at the language. The author seemed a bit… excessive? The boy shook his head and kept reading.

 _Because of the immense power that one stone holds, one must find a source of energy that is powerful enough to command the world and its laws._

Jaune nodded. It hadn't taken him long to understand that. The moment he had found out about something that would overturn the rules of alchemy, he had assumed that it would cost a lot of energy.

 _There is not many sources of power that can perform such a feat, but after several years of meticulous research, I have found the answer: the human soul._

Jaune stared at the words in front of him, his eyes glued to the last words he read. Human souls? What? That can't mean what it actually means, does it?

 _I have drafted and re-drafted an appropriate circle to perform this, able to tear the soul out of a living human and deposit it into a concentrated form, creating an almost perfect Stone. Of course it does not measure up to the real stone, but—_

Jaune stopped reading, turning the page to look at the back, a carefully diagrammed circle placed on it. Jaune examined it in quiet horror, detailing it and understanding that _yes,_ this thing can, and will tear out human souls.

Suddenly the stone in his pocket felt a whole lot heavier.

Jaune placed the book down, hands shaking slightly. Was that what the stone was? Human souls? Was he just carrying around a soul of the dead? No, one soul couldn't have made a stone like that.

There had to be hundreds. Thousands.

Jaune felt the disgust slowly rise up to his chest.

"Jaune? Jaune!"

The alchemist looked up with blank eyes, facing a concerned Blake. "Are you alright Jaune?" She asked, hand on his shoulder. "You've been staring at the ground for a while." That snapped him out of his funk, and he nodded mechanically.

"Yeah, uh, no, I'm fine." Jaune stuttered out. "Just a little… tired. I should take a break from all of this." Jaune stood up, taking all of the tomes, journals, and books into his arms, walking towards Ozpin. Blake stood up, wanting to help.

"Here, let me grab some of the books—"

"No!" Came the quick and panicked reply, Jaune turning away from Blake, who stepped back in surprise from the violent reaction. Jaune calmed himself down, shaking a head. "It's… it's alright. I've got it." Blake didn't seem so sure of it, but nodded nonetheless.

And so Jaune walked up to Headmaster Ozpin as calmly as possible, which was harder than it looked with Ozpin staring at him, eyes glancing up and down as if detailing the boy.

"Thank you Mr. Arc." Ozpin nodded at him, his fingers covering his mouth. "I hope this time has illuminated some information about what you're holding? And," Ozpin lowered his gaze, glasses flashing. "reveal if the stone will become a threat to you?" _And everyone around you?_ Was the unspoken question. Jaune nodded, eyes having a hard time staying on his headmaster's face.

"N-no. It's not dangerous." Jaune said, before turning around and retreating back to Blake, who stood up in confusion, her book held in her hands. Jaune didn't say a word to her as he stepped into the elevator, at least waiting patiently until she stepped in before he pressed the buttons, sending them back to the main levels.

"Are you sure you're alright Jaune?" Blake turned to him, crossing her arms. "You didn't seem alright back there." Jaune didn't answer for a second, mind still racing with the new information in his mind. Finally he looked at her, face twisted in a complicated expression.

"I really don't want to talk about it right now. Maybe later?"

It didn't seem like there was much of a choice for Blake, but she nodded anyways, not wanting to distress him further. Relieved that she didn't push for more information, Jaune decided to distract himself for a little while, pointing to the book she had in her hand.

"Is that new or something you're rereading?"

Blake held up the book, tilting it so that Jaune could read the title of the book. _Ninjas of Love: Kurokamikashi Strikes_. He lifted an eyebrow at the title.

"That sounds like an… interesting book." Jaune allowed, nodding. Blake almost seemed to recoil at that, horrified.

"Interesting? Just interesting?" Blake shoved the book into his hands, opening it up. "It is a _masterpiece_. It is the fifth one of its kind to come out, and yes, some parts are _just_ interesting, but everything else is like… like a _masterpiece_."

From the serious look on her face, Jaune could tell that she was being serious. That didn't change the fact that Jaune bent over and clutched his stomach, laughing.

## #

"Cinder?"

The woman raised her head, turning to look at Professor Port, who had knocked on her door. With a polite smile, the woman discreetly closed her book and turned her attention towards him.

"Yes. Is there something you require, Mr. Port?" The man laughed boisterously.

"Please, call me Peter. All of my friends do."

Cinder raised an eyebrow, but kept her smile plastered on her face. "Ah. I didn't realize we were friends… Peter." The man nodded almost eagerly, stepping into the office.

"Ah well, yes, I'm sure I seemed a bit unapproachable, but I would like to consider you a friend." Cinder nodded at that, uncaring.

"Well thank you Peter. Tell me, is there something you need?"

The professor clasped his hands behind his back and puffed out his chest, his mustache wiggling a little.

"I was actually just wondering, since you are helping us so much with the maintenance for the Amity Coliseum, if you would mind me taking you out for dinner. As a thank you." He added in, not able to disguise all the nervousness from his voice. The smile on Cinder's face grew a little sharper as she tried her hardest not to grimace in disgust.

"I'm sorry Peter, but I'm quite busy today. I have to oversee the rest of the maintenance by the crew and make sure everything's… up to par." Cinder made sure to sound regretful, her posture mirroring the disappointment that Professor Port was feeling.

"Oh, well. That's quite alright." Came the halting reply. "Maybe when you're less busy then."

Cinder nodded. "Surely." And made quick plans to keep herself busy for the next week and a half.

With the final parting word, Professor Port left, closing the door quietly behind him.

"That was… pathetic."

The air rippled as Mercury and Emerald reappeared, sitting on the seats on the side of the room. Emerald shoved an elbow into Mercury's side, making him wince in pain. Turning to her, he shrugged. "What? Are you saying that was super attractive? You into older, fatter, mustached guys?" Mercury taunted with a sneer. Emerald's eyes grew red with rage and she spun, ready to lash out in anger.

"Enough." Came Cinder's quiet command. The two of them froze what they were doing, turning to the woman, who sat there contemplatively.

"Ma'am?" Emerald prodded gently, hoping that the woman didn't think Emerald was out of line. She could still feel the bruises from the last time she was out of line. Cinder turned to her, smiling.

"Actually, clear my schedule for tomorrow evening. I think I'll be going out to eat."

The two of them gaped at her in disbelief.

"I-I'm sorry ma'am?" Emerald asked, causing Cinder's lips to twist in displeasure.

"Do you object?" The green-haired girl was quick to shake her head.

"No, no! Of course not! It's just…" The girl looked at Cinder, who nodded her permission for Emerald to speak. "Why? If I may ask." Cinder looked at the shivering girl, a hint of a smile on her face. She stood up from her desk and walked around it, approaching the girl. With one hand, she gently touched Emerald's chin, making her lift her head.

"Why? Because it interests me so. Everything is… getting along nicely, even with the few _bumps_ in the road." Letting go of Emerald, Cinder turned around and looked at the book that she had placed on her desk, _Les Secrets du Monde Naturel_. "Since it seems that no one can handle this one… particular bump, I will attend to it myself."

Cinder looked at Emerald with an almost sultry expression. "It seems to me that I will need some… tension relieved after tomorrow night. You will be ready for me then, I assume?"

Emerald swallowed, bowing to hide her face with her bangs. "Of course, Cinder." The woman nodded, smiling.

"Very good."


	31. Furthering the Plans

**A/N: This one's pretty short... enjoy!**

* * *

Jaune wasn't much of a sleeper. His mind liked to race no matter what time it was, and he was known to be up during the late hours, simply pacing back and forth, thinking about whatever it is that is occupying his mind.

So when he rose out of bed at around 3 in the morning, the only reaction he got was a sleepy Blake raising her head to see who it was, before she mumbled something incomprehensible and put her head back onto the pillow, having spent most of the night with Jaune talking and reading in Team JNPR's room.

Jaune roamed the hallways, making sure to avoid the night patrols set up by the faculty, thinking about what he had learned yesterday. He had managed to keep his mind off of the subject for a good two days, spending some time with Blake and keeping himself busy, finding anything that could distract him. In those two days, he never even touched another alchemy book, didn't even bring the subject up with Blake, who was growing more and more concerned about Jaune.

He did his best to reassure her that nothing was wrong, but he never really had practice in lying to someone else, and his face showed more than his words, creased with concern, his eyes dimmed with doubt.

And so, after two days of not thinking about it, Jaune finally broke down, unable to sleep and having run out of other things to do.

He pulled out the stone in his pocket, the shattered moonlight gleaming on it, casting a soft red glare. To think something so beautiful could be the product of untold destruction. Jaune knelt down, pulling out some chalk that he kept in his pockets and started to create a circle, something he had come up with as a way to verify the stone.

The work was intricate, and delicate, and allowed for Jaune to focus completely on it, making sure that everything was absolutely perfect.

Placing the blood-red stone in the center of the circle, Jaune sat down, cross-legged, and touched the circle, causing it to glow momentarily.

The stone flashed blue for a brief second, and wisps of smoke rose from it, accompanied by a sound a lot like moaning. Actually, it _was_ moaning. It the sound of hundreds of thousands of people screaming in pain, the souls trapped inside of the gem.

Face turning white, Jaune snatched the rock and shoved it into his pocket, halting the screaming and clapping his hands once, turning the chalk circle into nothingness.

"What was that?"

Jaune turned to see a wide-eyed Blake, who stood next to the doorway in her kimono, looking at the stone in his hand.

Blake had only pretended to sleep earlier, her curiosity overwhelming her maturity to trust that Jaune would tell her what was bothering him. And so, she waited for him to leave, counted to a hundred, and rose, following Jaune.

Blake stepped forward uncertainly, staring at the stone in his hand. "What… just happened?"

The boy looked guiltily at Blake, turning his gaze towards the stone and sighing, showing her the object.

"The stone," Jaune said seriously, looking at her. "It's not what I thought it was."

## #

"Well Cinder, may I call you that? I'm quite glad that you were able to make time for this."

Professor Port gallantly slid the chair back, letting Cinder gracefully sit, a polite smile of thanks on her face.

"Well, I think it would be rude of me to say no to this, being a token of appreciation from Beacon." Cinder said easily, ignoring the nervous laughter from the short man.

"Of course, of course. Now, I hope you have a hankering for some wonderful cuisine, my lady, because this restaurant is one of the finest in the city." Peter leaned over, as if telling her a secret. "I myself enjoy the steak options." Cinder nodded, keeping a polite and friendly air.

"I will have to make note of that." Cinder said, before pointing to an eggplant dish for the waitress to take down. This didn't phase the professor, who loudly announced that he would have a medium rare steak, handing his menu to the girl. Cinder took this opportunity to make small talk with the professor.

"So professor, what is teaching the future's protectors like?" That was all Professor Port needed, who immediately sprung into conversation, waxing poetic about lesson plans and his bonding experiences with his students. Cinder only paid half attention to his ramblings, just enough to carry on the conversation if he asked any questions. Finally, they got to the point that Cinder wanted to talk about.

"And the most promising new students I would say are those from Team RWBY and JNPR. They're quite impressive, although their leaders aren't what you'd expect from that team." He said, happily tearing into his steak. Cinder's head rose, her fork settling from its endless movements trying to pick the eggplant on her dish apart.

"The leaders of the teams? They're… quite special, are they not?" Cinder asked carefully. The man nodded enthusiastically.

"Ah yes. Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc. Both talented individuals that only need a guiding hand to become something great." The man held up a finger, mustache trembling as he talked. "Ruby Rose is one of the youngest students to enter Beacon Academy, but is quite experienced in dealing with Grimm for her age. She—"

Now that they were on the topic that Cinder wanted, her patience grew thin, and she interrupted him quickly. "Yes, I'm sure she's quite the individual. Tell me, the other leader, I've heard quite some interesting things about him. Anything you could shed a light on?" The man nodded, hand stroking his mustache.

"Yes, yes." Professor Port said unsuspectingly. "He is quite the individual. Extremely brilliant, but antisocial and has a hard time dealing with others." Cinder nodded, pretending to absorb the information.

"And I heard every first year team went on a… mission of sorts? How did the top two rising teams fare in their missions?" Cinder pushed harder than she would normally have, knowing that Peter would be too busy talking to analyze why she would be asking these sort of questions.

"Hm. Quite unexpected questions you're asking there, aren't you?" The professor suddenly grew serious, a thoughtful look on his face, causing Cinder to freeze, afraid that she had assumed wrong until the man burst into laughter, nodding his head in satisfaction. "I guess that just means that you've been paying quite a bit of attention to what I've been saying, haven't you? I'm quite impressed." Cinder sighed quietly in relief, although on the outside she still held the simple, polite smile that she had been using for most of the conversation.

"Yes, well, I'm sure you've heard that Team RWBY had been the one to discover the Breach, and helped defend the city against it." Peter said. Cinder nodded, her teeth gritting slightly. She had already made a note to make their deaths particularly gruesome. The professor continued. "Team JNPR returned well… in quite the state I would say. I can't really tell you many details, as the missions are confidential unfortunately." The professor said in an apologetic tone, actually sounding regretful. Cinder waved it away, telling him that there's nothing to worry about, which there wasn't, because she had already known what the team's mission was. After all, she had been the one to put it enticingly on their screens when they were searching for a mission.

"But they came back fine, and stronger from it I would say." The man started to gesture broadly, getting into the rhythm of his usual storytelling. "They might have been thrown in the local prison, but they came out with something quite interesting, at least to Jaune's interests." Professor Port smiled, nodding. Cinder leaned forward a little.

"Oh? And what did they find there?"

The professor hesitated again, making Cinder clutch at the tabletop. "I'm sorry Cinder. That's not for me to say. If you are interested in it, I'm sure Team JNPR wouldn't mind telling someone so interested in their stories about it." Cinder let out a frustrated breath, but leaned back in her chair, smiling widely.

"Thank you Peter. It just sounded _so_ interesting. It's a… shame that you couldn't continue the story. I would love to spend more time… with you. Hearing about it." She purred, taking on a subtle pose. Professor Port trailed his eyes over her, mouth moving, but no sound coming out. Finally he cleared his throat noisily, leaning over a little bit.

"Well… I'm sure there's nothing of concern about the mission anyways."

And the woman smiled a genuine smile.


	32. Taking a Break

The days after Jaune told Blake what the stone really was, the two of them dug through the texts, trying to figure out if there was any way to reverse it, or destroy the abomination that it was. Jaune felt almost sickly carrying it around with him, and decided to keep it in a chest that the two of them had gone out and purchased, locking the stone tightly within, before Jaune used alchemy to simply weld the door and turn the chest into an box with no opening.

The days of their semester break flew by, the two of them going late into the nights simply finding out more about the stone, with barely a day where they didn't crack open one of the tomes. It was on the last day of the break that Blake finally closed shut one of the books that she was reading, looking at Jaune.

"We should take a break." She said quietly, causing Jaune to tilt his head up in disbelief. Before he could object, she held out a hand, stopping him from speaking. "I know how important this is to you Jaune, and you should know that I don't like this either. But we can't keep ourselves holed up like this." Blake sighed, rubbing her eyes. "I'm probably the last person to say this, but we need to find a day to relax before our teammates come back and find us looking like… like zombies."

Jaune let out a sigh that almost matched Blake's and lowered his book, blinking slowly to try and bring his surrounding back to focus. Nodding reluctantly, he turned to look at the girl in front of him.

"Yeah," Jaune whispered quietly. "Yeah you're right. I mean, if you of all people are telling me to take a break, I guess I've got to listen."

Blake crossed her arms, raising a displeased eyebrow but also quirking a small smile. "What's that supposed to mean?" She asked haughtily, turning her nose up at him. Jaune chuckled and gathered up the books in front of him, as well and tucking away his notes.

"It means that you're a workaholic." Jaune replied glibly, ducking as she tossed one of the tomes at his head. "Hey, that's a priceless artifact!" He said in protest.

"Well, you should learn how to be more delicate with the way you talk."

Jaune rolled his eyes again, turning to hand the books to Headmaster Ozpin, who nodded in thanks.

"You two enjoy yourselves out there." The man said, smiling. "You can't be young forever."

The two nodded at him, striding into the elevator and pressing the button to the main building. As the doors slid shut and the two of them started their descent downwards, Jaune turned to the cat faunus.

"So, what've you got planned for us?"

Blake blinked in question, looking back in confusion. "What makes you think I have anything planned out?" She shrugged, leaning against the elevator walls. "I just wanted us to get out of that room before the break started is all." The alchemist nodded doubtfully, rolling his eyes again.

"Right. I'm sure what you did was a spur of the moment kind of thing, and the past half a dozen times you were gaping like a fish was because you needed to find a different way to breathe." Blake winced, a small blush forming on her cheeks.

"Oh. You saw that?"

"No." Jaune replied back, drawing out the word. "That was a complete guess on my part. Nice to know it was right though." The girl shoved his shoulder, scowling at the laughing boy.

"You just think you're so funny, don't you?" She asked. The elevator slid to a stop and opened its doors, letting Jaune step out first. He threw out a casual grin and nodded energetically, standing in front of Blake.

"So Blakey. Where're we going?"

The girl shook her head and stepped out of the elevator as well. "Don't call me that. And I was thinking…. Maybe the movies?" That was a surprise, Jaune thought, blinking a little. Shrugging, he nodded, asking what she was planning to watch. To his amusement, Blake got a little redder, coughing into her fist.

"Actually, the Ninjas of Love movie came out a few days ago so…" She trailed off as she saw Jaune smirk. He shook his head, turning around again.

"I knew you had an ulterior motive for this." He said in false despondence. "Come on then, let's go."

As they walked towards the docks, Jaune wasn't able to see Blake's big smile, and her bow twitch happily.

## #

"What kind of movie theater is this?"

Jaune looked doubtfully at the shoddy building, having looked like it had been used as a battleground during the Great War. Even the posters didn't look all that great, and these were recent releases, peeling half off. The front was attended by an old, gruff man that didn't look like he wanted to be there. Blake turned to look at the alchemist, who had stopped walking, standing a few paces behind the girl.

"Can't we go somewhere else? Like," Jaune turned his head frantically, trying to find a suitable replacement. "That bar right there?" He pointed to a humble looking place, with what seemed like a single person manning the place. Jaune squinted, trying to read the small sign. "It doesn't look all that bad. What's it called? The—"

Blake tugged at his sleeve, turning him back around with a look on her face.

"You can't possibly be _scared_ of going into this place are you?" Blake asked teasingly. Jaune gave a flat stare, not rising to the obvious bait.

"Actually yes. Come on Blake, it looks like a place that people get abducted and chopped up into little pieces. And not neatly either." He added, eyeing the man in the front in suspicion. The girl rolled her eyes and pretty much dragged him towards the ticket booth.

"You are a Hunter and an Alchemist and you're scared of a little movie theater?" Blake scoffed and continued to drag Jaune along. "Come on Jaune."

"Hey I lived this long 'cause I was cautious. Then I met you guys." Jaune gave her a flat stare. "You can't blame me for being a scaredy cat." Amber eyes met his, a frown on her face.

"Are puns part of having blonde hair or something?" Before he could respond, Blake swung him in front of the man, who looked at him menacingly.

"Whaddya want?" Came the grumpy question. Jaune stepped backwards, but was stopped by Blake standing behind him. She leaned over to the side and gave a small smile at the man.

"Hello there Mike." The man straightened up, his face clearing up and a smile brightening his face. Arms stretched wide, he stood up, laughing happily.

"Blake! So good to see you! How've you been little one?" Blake didn't move from her spot, but dipped her head in greeting, a smile on her face.

"I've been good Mike."

"Good, good. Where've you been all this time Blake? Have you found somewhere to stay?" Concern tinged his tone, a worried look on his face. The cat faunus nodded, .eyes flicking momentarily towards Jaune.

"I have. It's… a good place to call home." A pause. "Most of the times."

Mike nodded, noticing how close Blake was standing next to Jaune. He loud of a short snort of breath, eyes roving up and down Jaune, analyzing him. After coming to some sort of conclusion, the man scowled, folding his arms and towering over Jaune, back to looking as menacing as ever.

"I hope you've been treating her well young man."

Jaune nodded frantically, trying to back away even further. "Uh, of course I have sir!" Blake stepped in before any more words could be exchanged.

"Mike, as nice as it was meeting you again, I'm here to get two tickets for a movie? Ninjas of Love?"

The man snorted at the name and shook his head, letting go of the topic for now. He flicked his chin towards the entrance. "You and your smut obsessions. Go on in little one." Blake smiled, nodding as she strode past, Jaune quickly following behind her, trying not to glance behind him.

Going to the movies is almost a practiced motion, no matter who you are. You get the tickets, you grab the snacks and drinks, and you find a seat after struggling to slid past several people, mumbling apologies along the way. This wasn't exactly a typical movie experience for Jaune though. There weren't any tickets really, there weren't any snacks to be bought and any drinks to be drunk, and they were no people anywhere in sight in their theatre room.

Blake didn't blink at any of this, continuing to lead the way and find a good spot for the two of them to sit. As they settled into their seats, Jaune turned to Blake.

"I didn't realize you were a movie fan." He commented, after noticing how her motions seemed almost practiced. She turned to him with a small smirk.

"What, just because I enjoy books doesn't mean I can't enjoy movies?" Jaune shrugged at the question, not sure how to answer. "While it's true that most movie adaptations aren't very faithful to their source, I enjoy seeing another perspective of the story."

Jaune nodded at the explanation, and they fell into silence, watching previews and Jaune squirming a little, unused to having nothing to eat during a movie. "So how did you know the guy up in the front?" He asked suddenly, trying to find something to occupy his time before the movie started. Blake turned to him, eyes intent and her lips pursed. Finally she opened her mouth, beginning to talk.

"Before I got into Beacon and after I… left the White Fang, there wasn't much I could really do, being a teenager in the city with no money. I found ways to live by, and one day I found the movie theatre, with Mike holding down the front. Long story short, he let me stay for a few months at the movie theater until I left to go to Beacon." Blake turned to look at the screen for a few seconds. "I also watched a lot of movies."

Jaune nodded.

There was a lot that Jaune still didn't know about Blake, and there was a lot that Blake didn't really know about him. It was refreshing to see Blake opening up every once in a while, telling him things that very few others would know about.

"I didn't watch a lot of movies when I was a kid." Jaune admitted. "I was a little too busy trying to… you know." He held up his automail arm, the ungloved hand gleaming dully in the movie light. "All I had was my research and the old books about alchemy. I didn't really do much else." He turned to look at the movie screen, having turned black momentarily as the lights started to dim, signaling that the movie was about to start.

"I guess I'm just trying to say… that it's nice, going out and doing things I would have never done if I never went to Beacon." Jaune's eyes flickered over to Blake. "And I'm glad I'm doing it with you." He added impulsively, watching her carefully for her reaction.

There wasn't as much of one as he had thought, her bow twitching in surprise and her eyes widening for a moment, but other than that, there was nothing that even indicated that she had heard what he had said.

As the movie started to roll, Jaune decided that he would worry about a response later, turning his attention towards the big screen.

He was barely able to hold a surprised jerk as soft fingers touched his, and he couldn't help but peer over just for a second towards Blake, who acted like nothing had happened, but didn't stop her fingers from wrapping themselves around his.

This was actually the perfect place to go for a break, Jaune thought happily to himself. And the movie wasn't all that bad either.


	33. Decisions

**A/N: So, super short chapter to just mop up the finishing touches before the next arc, which will be HUGE and a ton of fun to write. This story's going to go on a hiatus though until around mid-January, where I'll be picking up during the Vytal Tournament. I hope you guys have a wonderful Christmas!**

* * *

Jaune and Blake didn't bother waiting at the ports for their teammates, opting to stay in Team RWBY's dorm and read one of Blake's books, knowing that the two teams would probably come and visit them once they left the landing zone pretty quickly.

Yang and Nora burst through the doorway with a wide smile on their face, greeting the room at the top of their lungs. Pyrrha and Ruby walked in after, faces slightly red, holding each other's hands. Weiss and Ren came in last, nodding their greetings as they continued to chat about something with each other. It didn't take much longer for it to be just like it was before, the two teams mingling and enjoying each other's company. They talked about what they did during the break, Ruby and Yang hanging out with their dad, while Nora and Ren went back to their hometown. There weren't any crazy stories, to Jaune's surprise. He didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth though, gladly taking the brief respite.

After all, it was only a matter of time before things got crazy again.

"So who here's ready for the Vytal Tournament?" Yang asked, grinning at the group. They all murmured in agreement, with varying degrees of excitement, from Weiss's subtle clutching of her battle skirt to Nora's elated yell. Jaune even nodded, curious to see other people fight. Watching sparring matches in Professor Goodwitch's class had enlightened him on different styles of fighting, but he wanted to see more, hoping that it would grant insight on how others fought. After all, before he joined Beacon, he had really only fought his dad.

"Well, we should probably discuss the strategy for the tournament." Weiss said, nodding at Yang. "Not only our team strategy, but also for our pair fights as well. For example, who's going to fight in them?"

"Pyrrha's a given," Jaune said, nodding at her. The girl smiled, Ruby popping up at the mention of the Amazon's name. The brunette's face lit up, nodding ecstatically.

"Yeah! Pyrrha's awesome!" Suddenly Ruby's face turned conflicted, hands flying to her mouth. "But then… we might have to fight!" The red-head smiled softly and pat Ruby's hand, shaking her head.

"I don't think that'll happen Ruby. I'm sure they wouldn't put two Beacon teams against each other early on in the tournament." Ruby seemed a little reassured, but still had a frown on her face.

"Alright then... but still." Ruby tapped her chin for a second before snapping her fingers. "I know! Yang and Weiss can partner up for the pairing fights!" The two girls mentioned looked up and nodded, eyes shining at the thought of fighting in such a large broadcasted tournament.

"Well, I am sure that would work out quite well, don't you think so Yang?" The blonde girl only nodded, grinning.

Pyrrha smiled gratefully and gave Ruby a quick hug before turning to Jaune. "And who do you think would be a good candidate for my partner?" The boy thought for a second, before pointing at Nora, who jumped up in delight.

"I think Nora's a good choice. She's got the firepower... and definitely the enthusiasm." The alchemist said, smiling at the cheerful Nora.

"Don't worry fearless leader, Nora's on the job! I'll make sure no one we fight will come out walking!" She declared.

"Uh, let's not go that far Nora." Jaune interjected, holding out a hand. "I'm pretty sure permanent damage is frowned on." Nora pulled a face, but didn't argue as Ren gently bade her to sit back down.

"Well, this will certainly be fun, don't you think?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah. Now all we need is to practice our teamwork a little more." Jaune said, making everyone in the room nod. The pair fights wouldn't need as much polish, as whichever two would probably be able to carry through with their personal skill, but they needed to get through the team stages first.

"Yeah, we need a little bit of work too." Blake said quietly. The other three teammates agreed silently.

"Alright then." Jaune said, standing up and smiling at the group before him. "Now that everything's hashed out, I'm sure everything's going to be smooth sailing from here on out." His friends laughed at that, knowing that no matter what happens, the Hunter life wasn't going to make the tournament as simple as it sounded.

But then again, what's the worst thing that could happen?


	34. A Problem

**A/N: Hope y'all enjoy :)**

* * *

Watching people fight was something Jaune enjoyed, he realized. He cheered team RWBY in their fight against Team ABRN, ignoring Professor Port's talking above.

"Hit 'em hard guys!" Jaune yelled, drowned out by everyone else in the crowd cheering on both teams. His teammates also joined in on the fun, Nora practically bouncing off the walls, Ren holding up a large sign (drawn by Nora, of course), and Pyrrha also standing up and cheering along with Jaune.

The blonde alchemist closed his eyes, relishing the sunlight and the friends that surrounded him.

It was a good time to be alive.

A loud boom echoed through the arena as Jaune opened his eyes, finding three of Team ABRN's members knocked out in a single blow by Yang. Which is why Jaune still tries very hard not to piss the girl off. Jaune stood up and cheered with the crowd, glad to have seen his first Vytal Tournament match.

"Come on guys," Nora said happily, already dragging Ren by the arm, "let's go congratulate them!" Jaune happily followed along, going down the stairs to find the changing room that the team was using, the four of them waiting outside for them to come out.

"Congratz on your win guys!" Yang gave a small scream as Nora tackled her onto the ground, laughing as she got pulled down. Pyrrha approached them much more slowly, giving a blushing Ruby a tight hug and whispered a few things in her ears, making Ruby blush a little harder. Ren chatted idly with a proud looking Weiss and Blake... Well, Blake was just looking at Jaune, as if waiting for him to say something.

"Nice job." Jaune said, smiling at Blake. The girl returned his smile, nodding at him.

"You're up fighting later today aren't you?" The black-haired faunus asked. Jaune nodded. "I'll make sure to cheer you guys on then. Maybe not as... loudly as you guys did though." She smirked, making Jaune exhale a breath in amusement.

"Well, sorry for being so supportive of you guys then." He teased, stepping in a little closer. Blake raised an eyebrow, making sure to stand tall as he got nearer.

"You should be." Blake said, her voice filled with humor. "We could've been distracted and eliminated early with such distractions. Where would we be then?" She shook her head mournfully, her miniscule grin giving away the game.

"I'm sure you guys would've managed." Jaune waved it off, going along with her game. "You guys _are_ the most promising team of first years after all," Jaune said, laying it on thick. Blake rolled her eyes, brushing her bangs out of her eyes. The two of them stood there, smiling at each other until Yang decided to pull a disgusted face and jumped in between the two of them, pulling them both into her arms.

"Alright there, enough of the icky stuff. Your team's coming up later today right?" Yang asked, turning to look at Jaune, both of their faces quite close. Jaune squirmed out of her grip and nodded, smiling at her and Blake, who was still trying to worm her way out of Yang's grasp.

"Yeah, it'll be later this afternoon. I think we'll have some time to eat before then."

"Ooh! I know a perfect place where we can go eat!" Ruby said, jumping up and down in Pyrrha's arms. "They've got great noodles, and the bowls are _enormous_ and they even have a fish bowl!"

"Fish?" Blake stopped struggling for a moment, eyes growing wide as her bow twitched suddenly. You could almost see the drool forming on the corner of her lips. Weiss raised an eyebrow crossing her arms.

"I hardly think going to a noodle shop would be a good idea for JNPR, seeing as how they'll have to fight on full stomachs." Pyrrha waved her off, a small smile on her face.

"I don't mind having a quick bite. Having something in my stomach is generally a good idea before I do something rigorous." The rest of the team agreed, and the eight of them followed the prancing Ruby, who was chattering along the way with Pyrrha, who simply nodded and smiled at everything the girl said, paying close attention.

When they arrived at the rather large food stall, the eight of them found seats and let Yang and Ruby order for them—a mistake, as they soon found out, when each and every one of them were given an extra large bowl topped completely with noodles, and an extraordinary amount of fish in Blake's case. The bill was given out and Jaune didn't even want to see what kind of price would be written on there, knowing that he probably would've had to work day and night to pay it off. Weiss of course, simply grabbed the bill, handing the old man her card without even looking at the price.

 _How I envy her_ , Jaune thought to himself, breaking a pair of chopsticks apart to get ready and dig in. He wasn't going to finish the thing, oh no, that wasn't happening any time soon. But he'd probably make some sort of dent in it before it was time to go. Probably. A sudden flurry of movement distracted him enough to look up, finding Weiss looking flabbergasted, and a receipt that read DECLINED.

"W-what? That's impossible, who would—" Weiss's eyes widened as she started to put the pieces together, palming her face. "Oh no." The old man gave a disappointed grunt and started to whisk away the bowls. Blake whined and reached out, grabbing the bowl and practically pleading the man to let her have this one, to which the older man just gave a stern shake of the head, tugging a little harder. It was a comical sight, Jaune thought, watching the old man and teenage girl fight over a towering bowl of seafood and noodles.

"Pleeeeease, just one bite." Blake said, almost crying. The old man shook his head, tugging even harder. Finally Pyrrha decided to speak up.

"It's alright Blake, I can pay for the food, just let me get my—"

A loud crack echoed as the bowl cracked in two, sending the contents outwards, almost exploding and soaking the two. Jaune had to snuff a rising giggle, covering his mouth with his hands as he did so.

The old man seemed to grew furious, gesturing wildly at the shell-shocked Blake, who seemed paralyzed over the fact that her precious seafood bowl was no more.

"…I'll also pay for… the damages, I suppose." Pyrrha said, wincing. The blonde alchemist stood up, putting a hand on his partner's shoulder.

"Don't worry, I can fix up the bowl."

He approached the broken shards and gathered them up into one pile, creating a perfect transmutation circle in his mind, clapping his hands and placing them on the shards. They glowed and started to fix themselves—wait.

No they didn't.

Jaune and the rest of the group stared at the shattered bowl, waiting for it to do… _anything_. The old man muttered angrily, assuming that Jaune was trying to play a joke on him.

"No wait, I'm sorry, there must be something wrong with my circle…" Jaune apologized, closing his eyes and focusing on the detail in his circle, making sure that it was absolutely perfect before trying again.

Nothing.

"This can't be right." He muttered to himself while biting his thumb. "The circle I did was _perfect_." As a last resort, Jaune drew out some chalk, actually forming a neat circle and inscribed the necessary inscriptions around it, double and triple checking his work to make sure the circle was absolutely flawless. Which it was. _Or should be_ , Jaune said in his mind.

Moving the shards over the circle, Jaune placed his hands on the circle, gathering his willpower and telling the circle to work. Which it… didn't do.

"I have to be dreaming right now." Jaune said in disbelief, blinking rapidly at the broken bowl. Pyrrha decided to end his humiliation by stepping in, paying for the bowl as well as the noodles. Jaune just sat there in shock, mirroring the body language that Blake was showing as well.

"I don't understand. That's impossibly. Transmutation is as constant as… as gravity." Jaune's eyebrows drew together. "What on Remnant could stop me from using it?"

"Maybe someone turned off your transmutation button." Yang said, shrugging. Jaune glared at her, shaking his head.

"It's not that simple. The only way that could happen is if someone was creating such a large transmutation that the world literally _could not_ sustain another circle. And that's impossible."

"'cause no one's got the time to make a big enough circle?" Yang asked, humor laced in her words. Jaune looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Because no one in Vale knows anything about Alchemy in the first place. Except me." Jaune's talking slowed as he reached the end of the sentence, his mind whirring.

"Well, put that speculation away for later fearless leader, we've got a match to go to!" Nora shouted, pulling Ren and zooming off into the distance. Jaune's eyes followed them for a second before going wide. Oh Dust. The match.

How was he going to fight without using Alchemy?


	35. Handicapped

**A/N: For the people expecting the story to be uploaded yesterday... sorry about that XD I probably should have set this in the last chapter so that y'all wouldn't be confused but... I forgot. Sorry. XD From now on, AAA will be uploaded on Fridays, which'll give my beta some time to actually look through the story. Sorry about all of that XP Hope y'all enjoy!**

* * *

 **Beta: Prince of Austria**

* * *

Jaune felt his heart beating like someone was shooting into a metal drum, his hands so clammy that he was wiping them on his shirt repeatedly, making him look like he had too much caffeine. The rest of his team looked at him worriedly, to which Jaune just smiled and said that he was fine, even though his mind was screaming at how stupid it was going to be fighting without the use of Alchemy. The ancient art was all he really knew, and it was what he had trained to fight with. He wasn't the greatest swordsman around, but whenever he was brought into any trouble he couldn't finesse his way out of with swordsmanship, his alchemy and quick thinking was able to bring him past the finish line, even if it was kicking and screaming.

 _Calm down_ , Jaune thought to himself, breathing out slowly. It didn't really help as much as he thought, his heart still going at a speed that would envy Ruby's sprint, but it helped clear his mind enough to think. _Alchemy isn't the only thing I'm good at,_ Jaune tried to remind himself. _Just because I can't use any transmutation circles doesn't mean I can't think about what to do. Remember, I'm the leader of this team. They depend on me._ Jaune gave another sidelong glance at his teammates, seeing them all calm and collected. Even Nora wasn't hopping around excitedly, only wearing a joyful grin, hands tightening and loosening slowly.

"—and on the other side, a Vale favorite, Team JNPR!" The booming voice of Professor Port called out, signaling the team to step forward as the doors opened for them, the screams and cheering slamming into the four of them. Jaune actually took a step backwards, eyes growing wide at the sheer volume of the noise, seeing Ren wince as well. Nora was, well, Nora, and simply cheered with them, jumping up and down excitedly while Pyrrha took a calm step forward, a practiced smile on her face.

They gathered in a straight line and pulled out their weapons, looking at the other team, Team BRNZ. Jaune even pulled out his shield for extra insurance. All four of them looked calm and collected, ready to fight against team JNPR.

"3… 2… 1… Begin!"

Jaune screamed and rushed forward, startling his teammates, who took off behind him, just half a second late. BRNZ did the same except for their girl falling back, turning around and heading into the trees behind them.

 _Okay… three on four doesn't sound so bad._

Jaune crashed into a guy with saws on his forearms, the teeth buzzing angrily against his shield. The force with what they hit each other with was strong enough to stagger Jaune, making him take a step back to keep his balance. Roy was his name, and he roared, pressing his advantage and slamming one of his saws into Jaune's shield again, making him fall onto the ground.

Panicked, Jaune let go of his clunky shield and scrambled back onto his feet, ducking immediately and narrowly dodging another saw that whistled above his head. Trying to take advantage of Roy's open defenses, Jaune swung sloppily, not even touching the dark-skinned boy as he took a step back, before going on the offensive again. Now without a shield to protect himself with, Jaune relied on his ducking and weaving, making sure that nothing hit him. The exchange went back and forth without anyone gaining the upper ground until Roy missed his footing, allowing Jaune to slam his shoulder into the guy, sending the boy flying.

Jaune grinned giddily in his mind, reassured that he could put up somewhat of a fight, and advanced, before something whistled past his ear, an echoing crack reaching him not even a second after. He froze, not knowing what that was until another shot rang out and dinged against Pyrrha's shield to the left of him, sending him into a sprint to cover.

"Jaune! Sniper!" The Amazon cried out, pointing into the trees. He nodded, and shouted for everyone to run into cover, falling back towards their playing field, a mountain of rocks. Shots continued to ping around them, most very close to hitting them, the few that did getting chunked by their aura. The rest of team BRNZ didn't just stand there idly either, taking off after them, smiling viciously as they knew how much ground they were gaining off of Jaune's team retreating like that.

"Nora, distract them for a second!" Jaune shouted. The orange-haired girl saluted and pulled out Magnhild, letting off a few grenades that slowed the advancements.

"What do you think we should do?" Jaune asked Pyrrha. The girl had a face of concentration on her, her eyes flicking back and forth to figure a solid plan for them to beat BRNZ. Pyrrha shook her head, a frown on her face.

"We need to take out that sniper before we do anything else." Pyrrha sighed, pointing at the tree line, before ducking down as a bullet ricocheted off of a stone near her hand. "As long as she's in the picture, we can't do anything but get pushed back by the rest of the team." Jaune nodded, head popping up briefly to survey the landscape, before ducking down again as another shot echoed.

"Okay Pyrrha, how long do you think you can hold off two people?"

"At the same time?" Pyrrha asked, an eyebrow raised. Jaune rolled his eyes at the question.

"No, one at a time, that's why I asked if you could hold off two people." He snarked, to the displeasure of Pyrrha.

"It was a valid question." She protested, shaking her head. "I should do fine for a little while. It'll depend on how long I'll need to fight them." Jaune thought for a little bit, trying to calculate it out in his mind.

"Not for long. A minute? Two, tops."

"That should be fine." Pyrrha answered back, nodding confidently. The alchemist nodded, clapping her on the shoulder.

"Then have at 'em."

Without another word Pyrrha vaulted over the outcrop and deployed Miló, firing off a few shots at the closest members of Team BRNZ. Jaune called out Ren's name, bringing his attention over to him.

"Help Pyrrha out!" Jaune called, pointing to the group. The pink-haired boy nodded, sprinting off towards the direction of fighting. The blonde turned to Nora, who was already smiling next to him, eyes twinkling.

"Tell me I get to blow something up." She whispered excitedly. Jaune grinned, teeth showing.

"Oh yeah. A whole forest."

The girl squealed in excitement and hopped out, merrily blasting away with her grenade launcher, felling trees over with every blast, as well as making it difficult for May to really spot anything with so much debris and smoke flying everywhere from each of the blasts.

And with everyone distracted, Jaune took off, not in a straight line, but circling the arena, going the opposite way where Pyrrha and Ren were fighting and heading into BRNZ territory while May was still blind and taking potshots at Nora in hopes one of them would land. As Jaune entered the trees, he clapped his hands once, placing them on the ground briefly in hopes that it would do anything.

Clicking his tongue in disappointment when nothing happened, Jaune stood back up, taking off again towards May, hands ruffling through his pockets.

"Where is she, where is she, where is she…" A shot rang out, slamming into Jaune's metal arm as he raised it to protect his face. Lowering it revealed the red-haired girl standing on one of the branches, gun aimed at Jaune. "There you are."

"Not another step." May said calmly, chambering another shot into her rifle, her aim steady. Jaune raised an eyebrow and held both of his hands open in the air, before chucking one of his slim metal bars at her while running towards her. Without any thought, almost like it was second nature, May fired at the moving target first, hitting and blasting aside the metal bar before cursing and jumping to another tree, cocking her weapon again. Another shot hit his arm again as Jaune protected himself with the automail, continuing to get closer and closer, before jumping and cutting the branch that May was on, who had dropped onto the ground as a response, chambering another round and firing almost instantly. Jaune's aura flared up to protect him as he ignored the pain, throwing what was left in his hand as hard as he could, the projectile heading straight towards May's face.

The speed that was needed for the sniper to bolt another shot and shoot almost wasn't enough to make it in time, but with a cry of victory, May was able to take one more shot, blasting the speeding object into pieces almost two feet away from her face.

And was promptly blinded as chalk dust exploded and hit her face.

The next thing she saw was Jaune striking her as hard as he possibly could with the flat of his blade, once, twice, three times, her aura breaking after the third heavy-handed hit, Jaune knocking her out with the pommel of Crocea Mors, the loud buzzing sound above the arena signaling the fall of May.

Panting, Jaune kneeled down briefly, rubbing his side where the bullet bounced off of his aura, knowing that it would be pretty tender for a few hours at the very least. A resounding boom a little too close to where he was standing brought him back up to his feet, remembering that Nora was still systematically trying to knock a forest down with her grenades. Following the noise and actually heading towards the direction of the grenade launcher, Jaune found himself coming out of the forest, waving his arms frantically at Nora to stop her from blasting at him, to her complete disappointment. She perked up again quickly when Jaune pointed at the rest of BRNZ, pantomiming a grenade blast at them, which she happily obliged.

Unfortunately, it was also a little close to Pyrrha and Ren, who flew back just as much as the other three did, leaving them all dazed and confused.

But there was another two from the JNPR lineup that was ready to fight, Nora and Jaune jumping in, ready for battle. Or, Nora jumped into battle, transforming Magnhild into hammer form and swiping the weapon once, twice, and knocking two people straight out of the ring, the arena buzzing twice for the two ring-outs. Brawnz shook his head and looked around, seeing a bloodthirsty Nora backed by Pyrrha and Ren, Jaune trying to wield his sword menacingly and failing.

"We, uh, surrender." He said meekly, another buzz electrifying the crowd, making them all stand up. Jaune looked around to see them all up on their feet, impressed by Team JNPR, deafening them with the sheer amount of noise. The blonde spotted Pyrrha waving and traced her sight to find team RWBY, Ruby jumping up and down in her seat, screaming something that couldn't be heard over the crowd. He spotted Blake too, who wasn't going crazy like the rest of them were, but stood there with a small smile on her face, clapping slowly while looking at Jaune.

That was enough for him.

* * *

Cinder looked over the fight in a special VIP booth, something she was allowed to do as a reward for providing so much dust for the Festival. Her eyes bored into the lanky blonde down there, one of her fingers tracing a glass beside her. Emerald stood beside her, waiting for orders.

"… How goes the preparations?" Cinder asked, turning to look at Emerald lazily. The green-haired girl snapped to attention, trying not to stammer as she told her Boss.

"We finished it a little after Team RWBY was fighting. It should be ready to go any minute." The black-haired woman nodded, a slow smile spreading across her face.

"Good. I think we'll wait a little longer." She said lazily, her eyes traveling across the whole of the Amity Collosseum, noting the crowd. "After all, I'm sure as it gets closer to the finals, there'll be… so much more rewards to be reaped."

"O-Of course, ma'am." Emerald responded, wincing at the slight stutter.

Cinder chuckled lowly, bringing the glass up towards her lips.

Everything was going exactly as she planned.

Everything.


	36. Investigations

A/N: Nothing much to say... Enjoy!

* * *

 **Beta: Prince of Austria**

* * *

"Jaune? Jaune, where are you going?"

Pyrrha hurried to follow the frantic boy, which was harder to do than it sounded when she took an extra second to excuse herself every time she bumped into someone. The crowd that came to the Vytal Festival was enormous, and anyone attempting to make their way through the crowds would sooner become inundated by the lazy flow than defeat it. Luckily, Huntsmen and Huntresses seemed to have an easier _and_ harder time getting through crowds.

Someone as famous as the great Pyrrha Nikos was giving a respectable amount of space, but was also flooded with many fans, all of them excitedly chattering away, hoping to get a picture, get an autograph, get a piece of her clothing. It was crazy, and someone as polite as Pyrrha always had a hard time navigating these waters.

Jaune, on the other hand, was quickly given wide berth when people saw the rushed stance that he had, as well as the ferocious scowl that was sported on his face.

"Jaune- oh I'm so sorry, oh yes, of course I'll sign this for you, can you give me a second, I need to—" Pyrrha made a frustrated noise deep in her throat, unable to follow as Jaune slowly faded from her sight. A hand touched her shoulder and she spun around, fake smile adorning her face before it changed to a relieved look, Pyrrha finding Blake to be on the other end of it.

"Where?" The faunus asked quietly, her tone promising that she would find him in Pyrrha's place. The Amazon pointed in Jaune's direction, where Blake simply nodded and disappeared into the crowd so quickly that Pyrrha lost track of her after she blinked once. Sighing in resignation, the girl turned and focused her attention on a ten-year old boy holding one of her old tournament photos, grinning widely as he waited for her to sign it.

 _Someone rescue me please_ , Pyrrha thought to herself as she moved from person to person, talking and signing and posing until her head, hands, and cheeks hurt.

"Oh Pyrrha, I'm glad I found you!" A blur of red appeared beside the tall girl, gently colliding with her before the blur grabbed her hands. "We need to go, there's some, uh, Huntress business that we need to take care of!" Ruby had her hood up, probably to shield herself from any paparazzi and fan phones that wanted to take pictures of her. Or maybe it was just Ruby being her regular shy self, something Pyrrha was leaning towards as she spotted a huge blush across her face.

"Huntress business? What sort of- oh!" Pyrrha exclaimed after seeing Ruby's cute glare, the Amazon's hand slapping across her lips. "Of, of course, _that_ Huntress business!" Turning to the adoring fans, she bowed low. "I'm sorry, but I have to go and take care of this.. _urgent_ matter. I hope to see you all again!" She said, wishing in her heart of hearts the complete opposite. Eventually the crowd parted reluctantly, allowing the girls to take off, not letting up the pace until they only heard silence.

Both of them leaned on a nearby wall in the alleyway, panting heavily, happy that they were able to avoid the crowds. Red hair whipped around as Pyrrha looked at Ruby, her eyes sparkling.

"Thank you for saving me."

The younger girl's face, red from running, turned redder from the Amazon's gratitude.

"It was nothing." Ruby squeaked out, her hand fumbling to find her hood and pull it back up over her head. Pyrrha's hand shot out and stopped it from happening, before she leaned over, a blush gracing her face as well.

"No." Pyrrha said, stopping the girl. "Thank you."

Ruby simply turned away, not able to blush anymore than this.

"Okay."

* * *

"Would you mind telling me why you're in such a hurry?"

Jaune turned to find Blake walking beside him, eyes focused on weaving in and out of the crowd to keep up with the boy.

"There's something wrong." The alchemist stated, not caring to elaborate as he reached Beacon's entrance. There was a lot less people around here, as it was far enough away from the amenities that the only people there were students of Beacon or tourists that wanted to take pictures of the building. Jaune skipped past the lines and flashed his scroll to the electronic reader, the gate opening quickly to let him in. Blake did the same as well, continuing to accompany him.

"You mean the fact that you couldn't transmute anything?"

He nodded, turning a corner after he entered the building. "Like I said before, I should almost _always_ be able to use a circle. There's something interfering with it, and I need to find out what it is." Jaune shook his head, biting his lip in worry. "Because whatever it is, it can't be good." The blonde made a pleased sound as he reached the doorway to his room, muttering quietly to himself as he unlocked the door.

"So, what, you're going to look through the notes to find out what could be happening?"

Jaune pointed a finger at Blake, nodding . "Bingo. I just need to… find… ah, here you go." Jaune pulled out a folder of notes and flipped it over, frowning as he looked at the complex seal that he created on it. Stroking the spine of the folder, he cursed, having forgotten that the only way to open up his notes was by alchemy, something that wasn't available to him at the moment. Slamming it back onto the table, Jaune started to pace angrily across the floor, his mind whirling to try and figure out a plan.

He could go through every single book that he's read, but that would be utterly time consuming, as well as meaning to have to go back to Ozpin. He looked briefly at Blake, who looked concerned for him, before sighing, shaking his head.

"Sorry. I should probably… relax a bit. Just because I can't use alchemy doesn't mean it's the end of the world, right?" Jaune forced a smile, not believing a single word he had just said. Blake didn't believe it either, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.

"What do we need to do?" She drawled out, eyes focused on him. The boy shut his eyes, fingers rapping against the top of the table.

"We need to go back to the Colosseum. Investigate there. I mean, it's probably the best place—"

Blake took a step closer as Jaune stopped talking, wondering if something had happened. "Jaune? Are you alright?"

"My book. It's gone." Jaune said numbly, before diving into his drawers, pulling everything out. "Where is it?!" He knelt and looked under the beds, even lifting up the carpets as if expecting it to be there. "Oh no, oh no, oh no." He muttered, panic stricken on his face.

"What are you talking about Jaune?" The cat faunus grabbed his shoulder, spinning him around to see his eyes wide.

"My journal! The one, the one that I usually have whenever I'm reading my books?" Jaune gestured wildly around with his hands, before putting them both on his hair, ruffling it. "I couldn't have misplaced it, no, I usually keep it in my drawer… Dust, dust, dust."

"Jaune." Blake called out, trying to get his attention. She leaned over and grabbed him again, getting him to stand still. "Jaune!" This time he looked up at her, eyes wide at how close the two of them suddenly were. "Focus. Please. Where was the last place you remembered putting it?"

"In my pocket." Jaune replied quickly. "I usually carry it around with me, but going back into my room reminded me that I should've had it." He bit the tip of his thumbnail in worry. "We have to go back to the Colosseum now. I probably dropped it there somewhere. We need to find it. _Now._ "

* * *

Cinder fingered the book that she held in her hand, looking at it curiously. Turning it over several times, she inspected it carefully. The book was a sleek black, and if it wasn't for the fact that she could bend it and feel sheets of paper crinkling inside of it, she wouldn't have known it was a book.

"And pray tell, what does taking this book have to do with me?" Cinder asked quietly, balefully glaring at the kneeling girl.

"I-I was thinking that maybe you could use it somehow." Emerald replied back shakily, not daring to look at her boss. "The alc- the boy who uses alchemy, he's always writing things down on it, so I was thinking that maybe you could—"

"Do nothing with it." Cinder interrupted, causing Emerald to look up and see Cinder's unimpressed stare. The woman clad in red held up the open book, having unraveled the alchemist bind that was put on it, and revealed all the contents inside. There wasn't much that Emerald could figure out though, as every line in the notebook was a mess of scribbles and shapes, undecipherable to the green-haired girl.

"I-it's in a cipher." Emerald muttered, stunned. Who codes their work _and_ seals it?

"Well, I am glad that you can at least figure that much." Cinder snapped, tossing the book back at Emerald, who flinched as it tumbled towards her. "I'm glad that you did stole the book." Emerald's heart rose up in hope. "Now I can be assured that the boy will be suspicious of what is happening." Cinder dismissed Emerald with a single hand. "I'm glad that you can figure out how to make my plans ever the more complicated. I'm sure you won't mind me complicating _your_ plans either."

Emerald winced, bowing her head again. "I-I have no plans ma'am."

Cinder laughed, walking up to the girl in front of her. "No?" She asked quietly, kneeling down and grabbing Emerald's chin. "Then I guess I will have to find something else to complicate instead."

Emerald shivered in fear as the lines underneath her feet pulsed with light, counting down the time until the world ended.


	37. Transmutation

**A/N: Yay! Hope y'all enjoy!**

* * *

The roars of the crowd were deafening, and standing in the middle of the stands definitely didn't help. The sound was so loud that Jaune had stopped being able to hear individual chants or shouts, and the noise slowly blended to become some sort of constant presence that was just there.

That didn't really matter to the blonde though, as he was a little busy trying to push his way through the spectators, eyes roving around to try and find his journal. Blake had a little easier of a time, picking and choosing pockets where there were less people and almost weaving her way past them, searching as well.

They had started in the locker rooms near the arena, before going to one of the professors to ask if they had found a book anywhere near. When the professor shook his head, Jaune set off and made it his personal mission to scour the seats in the Colloseum, seeing if the book had migrated over there somehow. At that point Blake decided to take a break, moving to the sidelines to watch the fights for a little while. It was only when a good three matches went by and Jaune was still searching for his journal that Blake decided to step in.

"Hey Jaune," She said, resting a hand on his shoulder. The boy barely responded, doing almost nothing but tensing his shoulders for a second before continuing to walk, head turning left and right. "Maybe it's time to stop, if only for a little while? Maybe we can continue to search for it tomorrow? Hey," Blake gripped onto him a little harder, finally making him stop and turn around to look at her. "If you haven't found the book yet, I doubt that it's going anywhere. Come on Jaune, let's get something to eat."

Blake could already see how stubborn the blonde was going to get by the way he set his face, his lips pursed into a thin, unsatisfied line. "You can go on ahead," Jaune said, already turning around to venture back into the benches, "I'll catch up later. I think I might've seen it somewhere over—"

"No." Blake tightened her grip, preventing him from moving. His head turned, the look in his eyes incredulous, mixed in with some determination. "We've been searching for hours now Jaune. Let's just go out to eat somewhere, and then we can start searching for it again. We just need a bit of time to collect our thoughts," Blake said, trying to set a reasonable tone. Still Jaune shook his head, tugging his arm softly away from her grasp.

"I- I can't, Blake." Jaune looked away, one of his hands rubbing his arm. "I _need_ to find that journal."

"Why?" She demanded, not understanding why he was so desperate to find the book. She knew how paranoid he was with it. Who writes their passages in code and then locks their journal up in an almost impenetrable way?!

"Because it's important to me Blake," Jaune shot back, hands turning into fists. "Of all the people, I thought you would know about something like that."

"I do!" The words came out as a frustrated growl, Blake wanted to stomp her feet to make the point if she had to. "That's why I'm not telling you that it could be lost, which is very possible seeing how _big_ this place is, but instead I'm telling you to just… wait!" Blake threw up her arms. "I know it's something important to you, and I promise, after we take some time to ourselves, we'll be able to search with clearer minds!"

Jaune let out an exasperated noise, a hand clutching his face as he shut his eyes tightly. Blake didn't know what he was feeling, but she knew that he was probably very worried about the book, which seemed a little weird, seeing as how everything was written in code.

Jaune held out a hand and opened his eyes, his tone cautious.

"Could we- can we check one more place? After that, I promise I'll stop searching for today." Jaune practically pleaded with her, eyes wide. Blake turned from him and furrowed her brow, biting her lip. She had already received several messages on her scroll about how worried everyone was for Jaune, and knew that delaying any longer would probably mean having to deal with even more. Blake sighed, nodding wearily, to which Jaune made a small victory pump and set off, the cat faunus trailing behind him.

"Where're we going now?" She asked, curiosity piqued now that Jaune seemed to set off on a mission.

"We're going down to the lower space of the Colloseum." Jaune called back, turning left at an intersection. "I hear there're video cameras set there. Hopefully I can find some video of me dropping it or something." Blake blinked in surprise at the logical idea before feeling a twinge of annoyance.

"You couldn't have thought of that a little earlier?" She asked grumpily, getting Jaune to laugh nervously, turning back towards her for just a second.

"I wasn't really thinking when we were going around like that—as you were able to tell." Jaune waved off any further questions and set out on a hard run, sprinting towards the doors. When they arrived, they discovered the room to be tightly locked, which made sense for a place overseeing all of the security. Jaune knocked on the door, stepping back and waiting for it to swing up to receive them. The two of them stood there for a little while, not getting a response back.

Jaune stepped forwards again, patience not really something he had at the moment, and knocked again, this time a little louder. When there was still no answer back, Blake and Jaune turned to look at each other, confusion visible on both of their faces. Even if they weren't allowed in, there should have at least been a response to them banging on the door.

"Maybe they're out on break—" Blake's reasonable explanation was cut off as Jaune took a step forwards and kick the door with his boot, tearing the hinges apart and revealing the room behind it.

"Jaune! You can't just _do_ something like that!" Not that Blake was really the one to say that, seeing how many times she's done something similar. Jaune didn't reply though, as something flew through the room and tackled him to the ground, before rolling back up. A mass of pink and brown hair flew around the assailant's face as she tried to slam the pointy end of her umbrella into Jaune's throat, only stopped by a timely block from Gambol Shroud, Blake flicking the blade back to repel the psychotic girl.

The tiny aggressor flipped backwards gracefully, a cocky smile on her face that only served to annoy Blake further, who unloaded a few shots at the girl.

Brown and pink eyes disappeared behind her umbrella, the thing blocking every single bullet before closing again, revealing a fast approaching Blake, trying to get an unexpected strike in.

Just as Gambol Shroud's blade touched the girl though, she shattered into thousands of pieces, disappearing completely from Blake's sight.

The next few minutes were tense and quiet, Blake's ears moving behind her bow to try and listen in on any movement, her head turning to look at any possible angle that the girl could be attacking from.

"I- I think she's gone Blake." Jaune said weakly, getting himself onto his feet. Jaune rubbed his chest, wincing a little as he turned to Blake, who sheathed her blade angrily. "One day I'm gonna catch that girl and freaking tie her up, I swear." He muttered.

"What was she doing here?" Blake demanded angrily, glaring at Jaune, who looked completely defenseless. The boy backed away, holding out his hands.

"Uh, I don't know if you know this Blake, but I'm not one of the bad guys." He answered back. "I'd probably be the last person you need to ask." The cat faunus let out a short curse, walking into the surveillance room to see what Neo could've been doing in there.

The inside was a mess. Some of the screens were cracked, a chair had been upended, and there was blood everywhere. Not to mention the two dead bodies that were lying on the floor, completely cold.

Stepping over them, Blake started to type on the control panels, pulling up the past few hours of recordings, eyes speeding through the screens to try and piece together what was happening, or why Neo was in the room in the first place.

"Did you find anything?" Jaune asked unhelpfully, standing in a corner. He knew the moment Blake had seen Neo that the faunus's never ending battle for justice had been switched, which he wasn't sure he liked or not.

"No. There's a lot to go through. Watch those screens and tell me if you see anything worth mentioning." Jaune didn't say anything, instead walking up next to her and crossing his arms, his eyes flickering from screen to screen in an attempt to catch anything.

What _was_ Neo doing here? It was a little unnerving to discover that a criminal psychopath like her could get into the Colloseum, let alone the one of the more secure parts of this place. That didn't even get past the point of why she was here. Her boss was locked up in one of the Atlas blimps, wasn't he? If she was doing anything around the Vytal tournament, shouldn't it be there? Even if she decided to mess with the footage or communications here, that wouldn't do anything to the Atlas forces, which Neo would need for that to happen if she wanted to break her boss out of jail.

So jailbreak wasn't what Neo wanted from this. Then what was?

Jaune's head was starting to hurt from all the conjecture when he saw a peculiar movement on one of the screens, noticeable because it was one of the places where there wasn't usually a soul in sight. He spotted a boy with gray hair walking up towards the wall, pressing a button beside it before leaving the shot. It wasn't anything crazy, but when the ground on the screen opened up, slowly replaced by a solid gold line that traced its way out of the boundaries of the screen, Jaune started to take a little more notice.

"Blake, do you see this?" Jaune pointed at the screen, attracting the girl's attention. Her fingers flew over the keyboard, reversing the footage and playing it again, watching what was happening.

"Is that… unusual?" Juane asked uncertainly,. Keeping his eyes on the screen. Blake bit her lip, nodding at his question.

"A little bit." She answered. "I don't think the Colosseum is supposed to be doing that. I mean, there's a lot of special effects that it has, but for something like this in a deserted hallway…" Black stood up, not even glancing at Jaune as she strode out. "Let's see what that actually is." Jaune nodded ineffectually and scampered behind her, the echoes of their footsteps bouncing against the empty walls.

It wasn't very long before they noticed something peculiar with the floor that they were walking on.

"Is this..." Blake asked uncertainly. Jaune nodded, hand rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Yeah." He knelt down to look at the golden line that started in the middle of the hallway, before fading off into one of the intersections before them. It traveled to the end of another hallway before splitting off in both directions going off for dust knows how far, the hallways actually disappearing before the lines did.

In fact, the closer the two of them looked, the more lines they found, all types of symbols and writing on the floor that only increased the dread that the pair had, one more than the other.

"Jaune, I thought you said—"

"I know what I said," Jaune cut Blake off, face going a little pale. "But even I'm wrong sometimes."

The amber eyes looked at Jaune worriedly, not knowing what to say to him.

There wasn't much to say really.

"Someone's making a transmutation circle," Jaune murmured, "out of the whole Colloseum."


	38. The First Layer

**A/N: Here's where the fun begins :)**

* * *

"I don't understand. How's that even possible?"

Jaune shook his head at Blake's question, walking as quickly as he could towards the docks.

"It shouldn't be possible. I… I don't know how someone could've done something like that." Jaune grit his teeth, wracking his brain to think of a possible way someone could create a circle that big. "I don't know. Unless I see the whole circle, I have no idea how or why the circle's there. For all I know, it could be completely harmless. Maybe it's always been there and helps the Colosseum float." The alchemist sighed, highly doubting that was the case. "Although I'm pretty sure I would've known about it if that was the case."

Blake finally caught up to Jaune, setting her pace to walk alongside him. "So what're you going to do now?"

Jaune turned to look into Blake's worried eyes, seeing how concerned she was about the Circle. She was right to be too, piecing together the past events and figuring out that the White Fang probably had some sort of involvement in this.

"I need to talk with… with Ozpin." As much as he hated to say it, the Headmaster would know what to do, and he would have a lot more firepower to stop, or at the very least delay what the circle could do. "Hopefully he can figure out how to stall long enough for me to figure out what that Circle does, and disrupt it."

"Why don't you just break it now?" Blake questioned. "I mean, isn't it as easy as messing up the circle somehow?"

"Sort of, but not really." Jaune was quick to answer back, popping out of the underground tunnels and into the outside, the cheering of the crowds quickly surrounding the two of them. "If I disrupt it without knowing exactly what the circle is, I could end up making things worse when whoever made it decides to activate the circle. For all I know, the failed product could explode, and with how big that circle is…" Jaune shook his head, not wanting to entertain that notion any further. "Or it wouldn't mess with the integrity of the circle at all, and now, knowing that their plans have been figured out, they'll just activate the circle anyways."

"But there's the chance breaking the circle could work?"

Jaune bit his lip, thinking carefully. "Yes. But it's a small chance. Tiny, really. If someone's done something like this, I have a feeling they'll have made sure that the important parts of the circle are being guarded, either by actual people or… or countermeasures." Especially if they planned something like this for a long time. They probably played it safe and made sure to add hundreds of nonessential details that probably looked important.

Dust, deciphering a circle like this would take Jaune hours at best.

Finally reaching a docking station, Jaune flipped open his scroll, dialing the Headmaster.

A newly arrived Bullhead opened its hatches, Blake striding in as Jaune prepared himself for the inevitable motion sickness, while also waiting for the scroll to be answered.

"Jaune? What're you doing here?"

The blond looked up to find Emerald standing in front of him, having just exited the Bullhead that had landed. Jaune shook his head, lips pursed into a grim line.

"Trouble. I need to get to the Headmaster's office as soon as possible. Why isn't he picking up?" Jaune growled, looking at the busy signal on his screen. Emerald stared at the scroll as well, looking as if she was concentrating on something before turning her attention back on Jaune, smiling.

"Maybe I can help you out." The green-haired girl offered politely, stepping right back into the Bullhead. Again Jaune shook his head, not wanting to inconvenience the girl.

"There's no need. Blake can help me out with whatever I need. Besides, don't you have a fight coming up sometime?" Jaune asked earnestly, not able to remember if Emerald's team had to fight in any of the upcoming matches any time soon. Dust, he couldn't even remember her teammates really, let alone something like that. It didn't matter though, as Emerald shook her head, waving a hand in the air dismissively.

"That doesn't matter. This is something way more important. And hey, the more hands the better, right?" Jaune didn't have time to argue with her, simply deciding to nod and note a way to keep her outside when he talked with Ozpin. Speaking of, Jaune turned off his scroll, growling in frustration at the fact that the Headmaster had decided not to pick up.

The ride back towards Beacon was tense, which only made Jaune's motion sickness worse. Emerald didn't say anything, only shooting a sympathetic glance here and there and fiddling with her scroll, while Blake murmured a few words of encouragement, brave enough to actually sit close and rub Jaune's back to comfort him. Jaune on the other hand, didn't do anything dramatic, simply sitting huddled into a corner and wincing every time the Bullhead tilted or dipped, clutching his roiling stomach. He wasn't even really sure if that was because of the motion sickness or because his gut was just telling him that something big was coming to a crescendo, and Jaune needed to find a way to stop it before something big and bad happened.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to the blond boy, the Bullhead landed, and Jaune left the aircraft faster than ever before, zooming out and practically sprinting towards Beacon. After a second to realize what Jaune had done, the two girls also sped off, trying to catch up with the frantic boy.

As the elevator opened up, Jaune slid himself in, letting Blake pass before stopping Emerald, his face conflicted.

"… Emerald, I think it'd be a good idea if you could guard the outside of the elevator… to make sure that no one suspicious could get through." It was a weak excuse, but it was the only thing the alchemist could think of to keep Emerald out of the Headmaster's room. Predictably, the girl frowned and crossed her arms, her body language showing that it was obvious that she wasn't just going to stand there for Jaune.

"I don't think so. I'll probably be more use up there with you guys than down here. Besides, the elevator takes forever to get up to the Headmaster's office, we would have plenty of warning."

Jaune clenched his fists, his head shaking back and forth wildly. "We don't have time for this. What I'm talking to the Headmaster about is… a secret. And you can't hear it. Sorry." The girl's expression turned hurt, before it changed into a more accusatory look, pointing at the cat faunus standing beside Jaune.

"Oh, but _she_ can come with you?" Emerald crossed her arms, a scowl on her face. "That's pretty fair."

"It's not— It's not a matter of fair or not fair." Jaune said, frustrated. "You know what? You're right. Blake, can you help Emerald out down here? It won't take long anyways."

Now it was the amber eyes that narrowed, lips threatening to turn into a pout. Not that Blake would ever pout, of course, but it was getting there. "… Fine."

Jaune clasped Blake's hands in gratefulness, nodding his thanks to the girls. Stepping inside of the elevator, Jaune pressed the button to go up to the Headmaster's office, and hoped that he the damned thing wouldn't take so long to get up to the office that Jaune's warning would come too late.

## #

The bell on the elevator couldn't have dinged fast enough, Jaune almost phasing through the door to get to Ozpin. Stepping through, Jaune found the man sitting at his desk, watching the Vytal Tournament. Glasses slid up his nose as Ozpin looked up, finding the blond standing there bewildered.

"Mr. Arc. Are you alright?"

"Alright?" Jaune blinked, not understanding the scene. "How can you- Why did- Why didn't you answer your scroll?" The gray-haired man raised an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about Mr. Arc? I did answer, but you never said a word before hanging up on me. What was that all about?"

"What?" Jaune recoiled, not understanding. "But- I kept getting the busy signal. You didn't pick up-" The alchemist shook his head, deciding that that wasn't important right now. "Never mind. Did you know that there's a transmutation circle underneath the Colloseum?"

Ozpin straightened up, the look in his eyes sharpening. "…No. Is it something we should be concerned about?"

"I don't know." Jaune replied quickly. "I'm not sure what it's supposed to do until I see the whole circle."

The gray-haired man stood up, grabbing his cane. "Very well then. We will get on this immediately." The Headmaster opened up his scroll, the object chiming once before the person on the other side of the line picked up.

"Yes, Ozpin?" The voice was gruff, masculine.

"James. We have a situation. Please send someone to monitor the Colloseum please. Make sure no one can come in or out. And while you're at it, kindly procure the security feeds from underground. We'll need them."

"…What is this about Ozpin? Is the Colloseum compromised?"

"There's no time to explain old friend. Just do as I've asked, please. I'll be there shortly." Ozpin ended the call, before striding up towards the elevator, hand hovering over the call button before realizing that the elevator was already on its way up.

"Ozpin?"

"Where are you right now, Glynda?" Jaune could hear Ozpin gripping his cane tighter, staring at the elevator.

"I'm at Beacon's entrance, why?"

"I'm sending someone your way right now Glynda. He has vital information that could endanger many individuals, and I need your help to transport him to James, as soon as possible. Many lives depend on it." Ozpin gestured to Jaune, telling him silently to follow the man as he strode up to one of the glass windows, shattering the pane with his cane.

The elevator ringed and the doors slid open, revealing a slender woman in a red dress, hands encased in gloves that- Jaune's eyes widened.

That had transmutation circles on them.

His view was blocked as Ozpin flipped his desk over with his cane, one of the woman's fireballs that she conjured out of nowhere hitting the thing, practically melting it.

"I'm going to be a little indisposed for the moment." Ozpin muttered, before looking at Jaune. "Glynda?"

"Yes, Headmaster?"

"Catch."

Before Jaune could react, Ozpin's cane rose up and caught the front of the boy's shirt, before he swung wide and flung Jaune through the broken window.


	39. The First Shots

**A/N: Wearing new glasses always seems to disorient me for the first few days. Hopefully I don't decide to crash into anything while I'm driving XD**

 **Hope y'all enjoy!**

* * *

 **Beta: Prince of Austria**

* * *

The descent to the bottom of Beacon was a lot faster than Jaune would have expected, although he wasn't really keeping count, a little too busy screaming his lungs out as he fell. The ground seemed to rush up to meet him, ready to smack him across the face and splatter him all across the floor.

At what seemed like the last moment, a rush of blonde hair entered his field of view, and there was a tug in his stomach, Jaune feeling himself slowly down quickly before being placed gently on the ground, his face kissing the pavement.

With shaky arms Jaune propped himself up, heaving breaths as he tried to calm his heart down, still a little terrified and actually _really_ annoyed that Ozpin had decided to do something like that.

"What happened up there, Mr. Arc?" Professor Goodwitch asked urgently, lifting the boy up to his feet. "Mr. Arc, we don't have much time, tell me—"

"Someone walked into the room," Jaune cut the professor off, telling her quickly. "Ozpin threw me down."

"Can you describe them?"

"It was a woman," Jaune answered back, "dark hair, gold-yellow eyes, wearing a red dress." The blonde woman cursed, her expression betraying the fact that she knew who Jaune was talking about, looking up towards the top floor of the tower and biting her lip, hand tightening on her riding crop.

"The Headmaster should be able to handle her." Professor Goodwitch muttered, before continuing in a louder voice. "Was there anyone else in the room with you, besides the Professor and the assailant?"

Jaune shook his head, frowning. "No. Well, Blake and Emerald were with me, but I—" Jaune's eyes widened as he realized that Cinder would've had to go through the two of them to get up the ladder. Without saying another word, Jaune took off back into the building, the professor crying out in alarm.

"Mr. Arc, have you lost your mind?!" The alchemist didn't answer, practically ramming his shoulder into the door and forcing himself back into the building, finding Emerald and Blake in a situation.

"Stand… still, would you?" Emerald growled, dodging another barrage of bullets from Gambol Shroud. The girl shot her revolvers at Blake, who dived to the left, landing on her face. Jaune made a split second decision, stepping in front of Blake and expanding his shield, blocking another barrage of shots from the red-eyed girl.

"What is going on here?!"

Emerald turned to find the Beacon professor walking through, anger flashing in her eyes as she surveyed the scene. The girl made a quick gesture, the Professor waving her crop and smashing debris against a wall, Emerald taking advantage of that time to escape. The blonde woman blinked rapidly, looking left and right before muttering something about audio-visual semblances.

A hand touched Jaune's back, making him jump up in surprise, turning around to see a squinting Blake, her eyes looking around the room.

"Where is she?"

"She?" Jaune asked, confused about what Blake was asking for. The faunus growled, shaking Jaune suddenly.

"Emerald!"

"Wh- She left. Didn't you- didn't you see her?" Blake took a step back, the ears under her bow flicking angrily.

"Damn it."

"Are you alright, Miss Belladonna?" The professor asked, folding her arms. "Hallucinogenic semblances can tend to disorient the person on the receiving end." Blake blinked at the professor, mouth opening a little at the word.

"Hallucinogenic…?"

"The green-haired girl. She has a semblance that messes with our sight and hearing," The witch explained calmly. "She makes us hallucinate, that is."

"So that's why I couldn't see anything…" Blake murmured, before shaking her head. "Never mind that. A woman—Emerald called her Cinder—she got on the elevator, but—" Again Blake cut herself off, looking at Jaune, probably wondering how he got back down on this level without meeting the woman.

"I saw her." Jaune said, shrugging. "But Ozpin threw me out the window."

"He _what_?"

"This isn't the time." Professor Goodwitch interrupted, stepping closer to the two, looking at Jaune. "We need to get to Headmaster Ironwood before it's too late. I have a feeling whoever planned this out knows that their schedule has been upped, and we need to figure out how to stop them."

The boy nodded, agreeing. "Let's go then. Lead the way."

Professor Goodwitch nodded, taking off quickly. The other two followed, struggling to keep up with the pace that the professor was setting, even when she noticed and visibly decreased in speed, the pair still having trouble keeping close to her.

They kept running until they heard the roar of a Bullhead nearby, lowering itself onto the ground next to them, opening up the hatches to reveal the pilot.

"General Ironwood says that you guys might need a lift!" The man shouted, gesturing for them to get into the aircraft.

"We do." The blonde professor replied back, stepping into the Bullhead. Jaune and Blake followed, the blond paling visibly, but pushing the feeling of impending motion sickness behind him as he stepped on.

With speed as the topmost priority, liftoff was much jerkier, and the speed that the Bullhead took off faster than usually allowed in a commercial vehicle.

The three of them were already halfway to the Atlesian airship when they heard an explosion behind them, turning to find the Beacon tower flaming like a candle, debris and shattered glass plummeting towards the ground.

"Ozpin…" The Beacon professor balled her hands into fists, trembling a little.

"That's her!" Blake pointed, Jaune peering past her to see what the faunus was talking about.

Cinder stepped through the debris, looking at the Bullhead. Lifting a hand, she revealed a small stone, the object shining briefly before matter around her rippled, pulling together and creating a dull green metal tube, the woman hefting it onto her shoulder.

"That doesn't look good.." The pilot said, having watched the whole thing through the rearview mirror, recognizing what the woman had in her hands. He gripped harder onto the side-stick. "Everyone get ready for a, well, bumpy-er ride."

At the distance they were at, none of them heard the rocket launcher fire, but all of them could see the trailing missile, if only for a brief second before the aircraft lurched sideways, making everyone who wasn't holding onto something tumble to the left. Before they could reorient themselves, the Bullhead swung in the opposite direction, flinging everyone to the other side.

"Pilot, control yourself!" Professor Goodwitch screamed, straightening her glasses.

"No can do Miss. The moment I stop swerving-" The man tugged the joystick hard again, the feeling of airlessness filling everyone as the floor of the Bullhead disappeared from their feet for a brief second as the aircraft nosedived, narrowly avoiding another missile.

"Pilot!" The woman screamed, bringing his attention towards her. "Open the hatch, and fly straight!" Professor Goodwitch slammed her riding crop onto wall. "I will handle the missiles."

The man wordlessly flipped a switch, the doors of the Bullhead flinging open for Professor Goodwitch, who roared as she swiped her crop to the side, deflecting the missiles away with her semblance. There wasn't a moment of rest as Cinder sent another volley, to which Professor Goodwitch stood her ground and lifted both of her hands, eyes glinting with fury.

"I don't think so." The blonde woman whispered, catching every single projectile, before waving her hand and making them all turn around again. "Let's see how you like it." She said, before releasing her hold on the rockets, sending them flying back at Cinder. The golden-eyed woman stepped back in surprise, before the stone in her hand glowed again, a wall of rock rising up to protect her. The explosions rocked the already unstable foundations though, and the floor beneath her crumbled, sending Cinder falling.

Jaune couldn't hear the scream, but he smirked a little nevertheless.

"Alright. Now that the crazy missile fight's over," The pilot leaned over and flipped the hatch doors closed again, pulling the joystick upwards. "Let's get you to the airship."

The rest of the flight was uninterrupted the rest of the way by any psychotic rocket-launcher toting women, and they arrived at the dock of the airship with the tall general waiting for them, hands clasped behind his back.

"Glynda." He said, nodding at her. She nodded back, wasting no time as she started to explain the situation.

"There's no need," General Ironwood said, holding up a hand. "I heard that we didn't have any time for explanations. You," He looked at Jaune. "Ozpin said that you needed access to the cameras?"

Jaune nodded, not trusting himself to speak due to the insane flight that they just had. He didn't need to though, Ironwood nodding and tilting his head, silently asking them all to follow.

As they entered into the surveillance room, the soldiers manning the station all stood up, saluting the man, who pointed at the central monitor and barked out a few instructions, the men blurring into action.

"I hope this will help." James said, looking at Jaune, waiting for him to say anything.

It was hard to, with what the blond boy was looking at. The general had configured all the screens to project every part of the Colosseum that had any resemblance of being part of the transmutation circle, putting them together so that Jaune could see what it had formed.

Earlier, Jaune had mentioned that whoever was responsible for the circle would have probably added in things that wouldn't have changed the circle's purpose, in an attempt to obfuscate anyone trying to decipher it. And they did, Jaune seeing a lot of clever symbols and diagrams, all almost meaning something, but in the end doing nothing.

Whoever had done the circle tried their best to disguise the circle, but it was a circle that was burned into the back of Jaune's mind, the first time he had read it.

It was a circle to conjure up another philosopher's stone.

And this time, it was going to use every living soul that was sitting in the Amity Colosseum.

* * *

"Are you alright, ma'am?"

Emerald fidgeted slightly as she watched the woman brush off of dust and debris, before holding up the stone in her hand, the object glinting in the sunlight as she made sure there was no damage to it.

"Yes." Cinder said quietly, before lowering her stone, satisfied that it was whole. "It seems that our plans have been vastly accelerated. Emerald." The girl stood straight, almost quivering in attention. "Fetch our compatriots."

"We head to the Colosseum."


	40. Face Off

**A/N: Hope y'all enjoy :)**

* * *

"We need to evacuate the Colosseum." General Ironwood already had one hand on his comms, pressing the button to speak through it. It took most of Jaune's quick reflexes to snatch it out of the man's hands, causing the soldiers inside of the room to draw their weapons, pointing it at the blond alchemist.

After explaining to them what the circle can do, the Headmaster of the Atlas Academy had been quick to call his forces, something that Jaune wasn't sure was going to be the best course of action.

"We can't do that yet." Jaune said cautiously, keeping both of his hands above his head, the comms unit in his metal hand.

"And why not?" The man demanded, hand inching towards his gun. Jaune gestured slowly for peace, lowering the radio and tossing it towards James, hoping that he wouldn't get shot the moment the box left his hand. The general caught it, and clipped it back onto his belt, folding his arms in wait of an explanation.

"If we set off an alarm, it'll warn the people who planned this whole thing that their circle is compromised." Jaune explained. "We don't know if there's someone set up waiting at the ring, ready to set it off on command or not." The boy looked at Professor Goodwitch and Blake. "I suggest that we get to the circle first, find a way to disrupt it, then you can call for an evacuation."

The man didn't seem to agree with Jaune's plan, a frown marring his face. "And how will we know that they won't just set if off by the time we get there?" Jaune shrugged.

"They might." Jaune said, making the man in front of him raise an eyebrow. "But if they do, a circle of that size would take a few minutes to... how do I say this?" Jaune scrunched up his eyebrows, trying to think of a good term. "To warm up, essentially."

"And how long would that take?"

Jaune scratched his head, looking at the circle again, calculations running in his head. "I'm not sure. I would say somewhere around ten to fifteen minutes at the least." The boy shook his head, tilting his head a little. "Burning through all the redundancies might give us another five." The room fell silent, James looking at the screens thoughtfully.

"What I don't get," Professor Goodwitch said, interrupting moment, "Is why they didn't just activate the circle in already?"

"Mass." Jaune answered quickly, having already thought about the question. "To gather as many people as possible into the Colosseum to harvest. My guess is that whoever planned this would have planned to set off the circle during the grand finals, or somewhere close to that time, because that's when we've got the most attendance inside the Colosseum."

James nodded, speaking up. "Then it's decided. Let's go... break up that circle then." Jaune looked at the gruff man, blinking curiously at him.

"Wait... you're coming with us?" Jaune asked, surprised.

"Of course." General Ironwood answered back, already striding out of the surveillance room. "It is my responsibility to keep the civilians of Remnant safe, and it is also my responsibility as the Headmaster of Atlas Academy to make sure that the integrity of the Amity Colosseum is uncompromised." Jaune stood there, gaping at the man as he looked back. "I'm not going to take no as an answer, by the way." The statement snapped Jaune out of his daze, and the boy started to move, shaking his head the whole way.

"Of course you aren't." Jaune muttered.

The four of them arrived at another Bullhead that was already getting ready for takeoff, General Ironwood having called it in moments before. The ride towards the Colosseum was strangely tense, even though there was no sign of interference the whole way towards their destination.

Stepping out, everyone gave Jaune a quick minute to collect his breath before they set off into the depths of the Colosseum, intent on finding and breaking the circle.

Finding it again wasn't hard of course. The circle couldn't have been moved in such a short time, being so big and complex as it is. Destroying it was a different matter altogether, Jaune found, as the group ran into a tall gray-haired boy with guns attached to his legs.

"You're not allowed to be here." General Ironwood said, hand resting on his pistol. Mercury crossed his arms, smirking at the man.

"I know."

The boy whirled around, firing off a shot out of his boot, James ducking underneath and pulling out his gun. Before he could even fire it though, the ceiling in front of them collapsed, locking them out of the passage.

Professor Goodwitch growled, bringing out her crop and waving it in the air, grabbing a telekinetic hold of the rubble, slowly lifting it up. She had to be careful not to move too quickly, given that she could very well end up collapsing the whole hallway under them.

It was slow, and did nothing for their patience as the three of them stood there, waiting for enough of the rubble to be cleared for them to slid through. Blake was the first one through, her lithe body having no difficulty getting underneath the small hole that Glynda had given them. Jaune was next, simply crawling through instead of sliding through like Blake, brushing the seat of his pants afterwards.

As General Ironwood and Professor Goodwitch struggled to make the way through a little more navigable, Jaune and Blake looked around to try and find where Mercury had went. It was as if he had disappeared into thin air, leaving no trace of himself as he escaped.

"Where do you think he went?" Blake asked quietly, Gambol Shroud already out in her hand. Jaune had Crocea Mors out as well, eyes scanning the area around him, ready to defend or attack anything that moved.

"Probably back to whoever's planning this," Jaune murmured, grip tightening and loosening on his sword. "If he's able to report to them that we're here-"

Jaune was suddenly cut off by a low hum of power, the air almost vibrating as it started. The boy looked at Blake with a pained expression, setting off to find the nearest section of the circle.

"They'll... start... the process." Jaune finished, gritting his teeth. "Come on, we don't have much time left." He started running, trying to find the person responsible for this.

"Wait, where're we going?" Blake asked, keeping pace with him. "Shouldn't we be heading towards the center of the circle?" Jaune raised an incredulous eyebrow, looking at the girl.

"What, so that we can be absorbed too?" Jaune shook his head. "No way. Anything breathing inside that circle is going to be made into a philosopher's stone, and I doubt that the mastermind would be willing to stay inside of the circle while that's happening. Now, where's the nearest exit?"

"Over here." Jaune turned to find Emerald standing behind them, pistols held up.

What was meant to be a smooth dive roll from Jaune's perspective ended up as sort of a dive-on-your-face, Jaune narrowly avoiding the barrage that Emerald initially sent out. The boy deployed his shield for the next few shots, before he felt a sharp pain on his side, making him gasp out as he spun around and found another Emerald, firing off another shot.

"Don't look away from an opponent, Jaune." The alchemist gasped again as he was thrown over Emerald's shoulder, the girl having seemingly teleported to his side, vicious grin on her face.

Jaune struggled to get up, waving his arms back and forth to try and clip her, but hitting short every time.

"Get off of him!" Blake yowled as she tackled Emerald, pinning her down. The green-haired girl roared and fought back, but was quickly countered by the faster Blake, who simply deflected most attacks and struck back harder than her, snarling as she did so.

It was only when the cat faunus suddenly reared up, clutching her eyes as she screamed that Emerald was able to find purchase, wiggling out of the tight hold and standing up, short of breath.

That was when Jaune slammed her with the shield, propelling her backwards into a wall.

The girl groaned in pain, blinking hazily as she took another pot shot at Jaune, who simply deflected it off of his arm, driving Crocea Mors into Emerald.

It didn't go as Jaune planned though, the sword piercing through the girl, who screamed and faded into thin air, another phantasm created by Emerald.

Jaune cursed quietly, whirling around cautiously to try and find the girl, shield at ready just in case she tried for a lucky shot. It was only when he felt Blake's hand on his shoulder that he relaxed, looking carefully at the faunus to make sure she was safe.

"Are you alright?" Jaune asked, just to make sure. The girl grimaced, clutching at her side a little and shrugging.

"She blinded me with her semblance." Blake shook her head, sighing. "But I'm alright."

Jaune breathed out a sigh of relief, nodding as he stood up, shaking off the bruises that he had gotten from the brief scuffle. The fight was done probably in hopes to delay them, Jaune thought to himself, biting his lower lip. It gave time for whoever was in charge to get away, safely leaving the effective radius of the circle, which means...

Jaune's mind whirred to a stop, his eyes widening in realization.

"What am I doing right now?" Jaune said harshly, chiding himself. If the boss had left the building, that meant the circle was unguarded. It meant that Jaune could change the integrity of it without interference.

Or at least, the only interference would be the lackeys that the boss had sent around, but Jaune was confident that they could handle that well enough.

Overhead, Jaune heard a siren ringing out, probably an alarm to evacuate all the citizens. He glanced up, shoulders dropping a little in relief, General Ironwood probably coming to enough conclusions without Jaune to know that the circle had been set off already, and there was no point in keeping the civilians on the Colosseum any longer.

"Come on Blake," Jaune said, looking at her, determination sparking in his eyes. "Let's go fuck with some plans."

The girl nodded, and they took off towards the center, the cat faunus clearly trusting that Jaune had thought up of a plan during the time he had stopped moving.

They arrived at the center of the circle in less time than Jaune had imagined, finding it glowing a bright white, the light so bright that Jaune had a hard time seeing much. He didn't need to see much though, having committed the circle to memory, and knowing exactly where he needed to screw with the circle to have the maximum, non-lethal effect.

Closing his eyes, Jaune took a few tentative steps to the right, then another few forwards, hoping that he had mapped it out in his mind correctly. He took a deep breath, and pulled out the philosopher's stone that he had been safekeeping from his belt, opening his eyes just a fraction to see the blood red stone sitting in his palm.

He never wanted to use its power, knowing full well how dangerous it was, and what it was derived from. But if he had to use it to prevent another one from being made... Then so be it.

Jaune knelt down, gripping the stone tightly and drawing its poer, allowing him to use his alchemy where it shouldn't have been possible.

And used it to pull up a stone wall behind him as Blake cried out a warning, spinning to find Cinder standing behind him, flames in both hands. That was all the warning he had though, as she thrust her hands and struck Jaune, causing him to fly backwards, the stone slipping out of his fingers as he did so.

Cinder exhaled slowly, looking at Blake, who had been trapped by some rock outcrops that the woman must have put up, and smiled at her, before turning to Jaune, the same disdainful look on her face.

"Come now, Jaune." She purred, taking a step forwards. "You wouldn't think I would let my greatest achievement go unguarded, would you?"


	41. Hidden Tempo

**A/N: Some more action, hope y'all enjoy :)**

* * *

 **Beta: Prince of Austria**

* * *

Jaune gaped at the black-haired woman, who stood menacingly over him. There was a grim sneer on her face, one gloved hand raised in the air, fingers almost beckoning him to come closer.

"Anything to say for yourself?" Cinder asked softly, tilting her head to the side. "No? Then die." She snapped her fingers, and Jaune's mind finally caught up to him, commanding his body to dodge quickly, rolling away from the spontaneous explosion that happened right where he had been sitting. Jaune snarled, pulling out Crocea Mors in preparation to attack her... before she snapped her fingers again, forcing him to dive out of the way unless he wanted to become a fried Huntsman.

Ducking behind one of the pillars, Jaune dug into his pocket, his own Philosopher's Stone gleaming at him insidiously. Closing his eyes, Jaune took in a deep breath, silently apologizing to the numerous souls that had been condemned into making such an abomination, and drew on its power, putting his hand on the pillar.

Cinder stepped out to face Jaune, a cruel smirk on her face. "Hiding isn't going to work, you know." She said mockingly, raising her fingers again. Jaune opened his eyes, a fierce glare directed towards the woman.

"I know." He whispered, and lifted his hand, the pillar suddenly exploding outwards in Cinder's direction, blasting her sideways with an angry snarl. Jaune knew that he was at a disadvantage, and sought to even out the playing field, placing his hands on the ground and creating stalagmite-like structures, piercing through the woman. Her aura saved her though, making her bounce against the razor sharp points instead, flinging her even further to the side. Taking whatever he time he could get, Jaune turned towards the trapped Blake and touched the stones surrounding her, causing them to recede and free her.

"I need you to break the circle," Jaune said quickly, running over any words that the girl would've said. The faunus pulled a confused face for a brief second before her expression morphed into protest.

"I don't know how to break it." She said, looking back at the glowing circle. "I thought that's why you had to come and do it."

"I know," Jaune said, shoving down his boiling frustration. "But I can't do it with Miss Hot Head over here, and you can't hold off her attacks." Jaune glanced down at the stone, swearing that he could see the glow dim a little bit. "Hell, I can barely do it, and I'm practically cheating." Blake's eyebrows drew in at the comment, but she decided not to ask about it, more worried about stopping the circle from consuming everyone's souls.

"Well then, it's probably a good idea for the both of us to take Cinder on, then deal with the circle." Jaune bit his lip, thinking about Blake's plan. It was probably their best bet, but with the circle getting closer and closer to activating, the boy wasn't sure he wanted to leave it alone, even if it was for a minute or two while they fought Cinder.

The choice was taken away from them when they heard faint whistling, turning to find a dozen or so spears flying towards them, causing them to separate, Blake flipping backwards to evade the projectiles while Jaune propped his shield open, hiding behind it.

When Jaune looked back up, he could see Cinder scowling at them, but taking her time to approach the pair. Every once in awhile she would snap her fingers, making Jaune and Blake react, but the way she moved was slow, as if she had all the time in the world. Which meant that...

The blond alchemist cursed, realizing that the woman wasn't trying to kill them. All she needed to do was stall long enough for the circle to activate, and jump off the Colosseum to avoid the effects of the circle.

 _What weaknesses can I exploit?_ Jaune thought to himself, eyes darting back and forth, all while still fighting the woman, sending transmutations back and forth with her, the two of them not wanting to over commit, Jaune knowing that she would gladly take the opening and kill him, while Cinder knew Jaune and Blake would do the same.

The woman went to snap her fingers and create another explosion again, and Jaune reacted quickly, jumping backwards to avoid the blast.

Just as quickly as she raised her hand though, she lowered it, a small frown on her face as she did so, taking a step forward and creating a long spear, hurling it through the air. Jaune dodged the thing with ease, wondering why she hadn't used her signature snap-blast that she usually did. Looking down, he found his answer, a wide smile on his face as he looked back up.

He was standing inside of the circle.

Cinder didn't dare do anything wild with her transmutations while Jaune was inside of the circle without worrying about destroying the integrity of the circle, maybe even causing it to fail. Sure, the thing could also explode, but that would also put an end to her plans as well.

"Change of plans Blake," Jaune said, looking at the girl, who had unleashed a quick volley of bullets towards Cinder. She looked at him, hair whipping around as she did so. "We need to get towards the center of the circle." The doubt was clear on her face, but trusting Jaune, she nodded, sprinting towards where Jaune pointed. A faded 'no!' came from Cinder, who was quick to figure out that Jaune had found an advantage to exploit, running towards the two of them to stop them.

Jaune raised his nose towards the woman, and mirroring the stance that she had made when the two of them clashed initially, snapped his fingers, erecting a stone wall in front of both of them, taking care not to disturb the circle while he did so. An otherworldly shriek echoed along the room, and Jaune took the time to sprint along with Blake, not looking backwards as he heard the wall lower again, an infuriated Cinder behind it.

"Don't think I'm out of options, _boy_." Cinder spit out, before her stone glowed bright, her other hand turned inwards, fingers clawed.

Air coalesced in front of where Jaune was running, slowing him down a little, before it picked him up and flung him towards Cinder, the boy tumbling as he did so.

Thinking quick, Jaune focused, and collapsed the ceiling in between the two of them, stopping himself with a pained grunt, and also creating a barricade to stop Cinder from advancing. Picking himself up, he touched the rubble the moment Cinder did, the two of them battling to transmute the debris into something advantageous for the both of them.

Knowing that just fighting over this would take too much time, so Jaune let Cinder turn it into what she wanted—but changing the composition enough without her noticing.

The rocks and plaster turned into water, splashing all over them and spreading over the floor, Cinder smiling predatorily at him now that her path was clear. She took a step forwards, before slipping, falling flat on her bottom.

Jaune grinned, glad that his change from water to oil was effective, and pushed himself well out of the liquid, before whispering to himself quietly, placing his hands on the edges of the oil.

"Forgive me," Jaune said to himself, and to the stone in his hand, before he lit the whole room on fire, the oil on Cinder lighting up as well, making her scream in pain. Jaune focused on drowning out the screaming and clapped his hands once, this time borrowing something from Cinder, creating a concussive explosion outwards, blasting Cinder back through one of the walls, sending her out of the Colosseum with how powerful the blow was. It was a double edged sword though, also striking Jaune and sending him backwards, where Blake caught him, falling underneath his weight.

"Thanks," He groaned, standing up on shaky legs. With Cinder preoccupied for a little longer, Jaune could use this time to disable the circle, staring at the edge of the inscription that he was on. Using that as a reference point, Jaune made a map of what places to damage and alter, setting out to destroy the circle.

Each alter didn't take any longer than thirty seconds, but with a dozen of them that Jaune needed to do, he needed to do them fast. As the humming of power grew louder, Jaune tried to focus on the sounds of Bullheads leaving the stadium, hoping that as many people could be evacuated as possible.

"Okay, three more and it should just... stop." Jaune said, wiping his brow. Blake nodded silently beside him, hand gripped tightly on Gambol Shroud. The boy finished the altar, moving onto the second one.

"After this, I want to take a twelve hour nap," Jaune said firmly, eyes focused on what he was doing. Blake made a noise of amusement, crossing her arms.

"Can you really sleep for that long?" Blake said in a doubtful voice, tilting her head to the side. Jaune glanced up briefly, smiling at her before getting back to his task.

"Sometimes. After I've saved hundreds of people from dying." Jaune said conversationally, standing up as he surveyed his work. Nodding, Jaune turned to her, a grin on his face. "I tend to celebrate after I've done something like that."

"Oh?" Blake said, playing along. "And how does that celebration usually go?" The two of them walked up to the last spot that they needed to change, Jaune crouching down to get ready to change the circle. He shrugged, a small smile still resting on his face.

"I dunno. Lots of food. Drinks. Happy times with... with friends." Jaune blushed a little, but continued talking. "Maybe a—a kiss," Jaune said, his voice getting quieter and quieter. "A kiss from a girl." Blake's ears perked up behind her bow, although Jaune didn't see them.

"Oh." She said quietly. "Is that so?" Jaune felt heat rising under his collar, and was quick to backtrack.

"I mean, only if the girl would be willing to, to kiss me that is. It's totally fine if she doesn't, that's just what I thought a celebration should be like and—"

A hand from Blake stopped him from rambling, making him look up at Blake. Her smile was soft, but it was there, to Jaune's elation.

"We'll see." Blake whispered. It was all she said, but it was enough to make Jaune's heart flutter, and a stupid grin break out on his face. He nodded eagerly before returning to his work, ready to end this once and for all.

Of course life couldn't ever be that easy, as a fireball whirled past Jaune's head. The boy jerked in surprise, almost scratching all the work that he had done, and turned to look at the scarred Cinder, snarling in anger.

"It's over Cinder!" Jaune called out, hand hurriedly finishing the last task. "You can't stop this!" The woman didn't reply, turning deadly silent. She drew up to her tallest height, her presence almost looming over them.

"If I can't have this," She whispered, deadly quiet, "Then no one can." She knelt down and sunk her hands into the circle, warping the integrity of the transmutation beyond recognition, making Jaune's eyes widen. Without further thought, Jaune jumped and tackled Blake, furiously drawing on the Philosopher's Stone to surround them with debris, transmuting it into a soft ballistic gel, hoping it would be enough as the world around them rocked, the circle exploding and destroying the Amity Colosseum.


	42. Bargain

**A/N: Sorry this took so long. Lots of work to do, just to make rent XP Hope y'all enjoy. :)**

* * *

 **Beta: Prince of Austria**

* * *

When Jaune went too far and tried to resurrect his grandfather, he didn't remember everything that happened. Sometimes, he had nightmares of eyes, and a mouth. He always remembered the crooked form of the monster that he had created, something straight from the horror movies that he would never watch.

For some reason, he dreamed of the moments before his life was drastically changed.

He remembered white, a door, and a shadowy figure that stared of him curiously, a shark's smile cracked across its face. He remembered it wanting a price, and he remembered offering anything, everything to the being.

He was young and naive back then.

He opened his eyes to the white room again, finding himself in front of the large door, the shadowy figure lounging next to it, its fingers tracing the patterns on the door idly, before it noticed that Jaune was awake. A smile appeared on the thing's face, sending shivers down Jaune's spine.

"I didn't realize that I would be seeing you again, child." The creature purred, leaping up onto its feet, its steps making no noise as it got closer and closer to Jaune. "Most people would be too terrified to even _think_ of coming back here. But..." Its shadowy head turned, bringing attention to something else in the room. "I suppose when you get desperate, you will go to any lengths, won't you?" Jaune turned to see what the thing was referring to, finding Blake lying prone of the ground.

"Blake!" Jaune sped over like a rocket, checking her pulse and making sure that she was alright.

"She's fine." Jaune started at how close the words sounded, turning to find the shadow eerily close to him, eyes trained on Jaune's fallen friend. "For now at least."

"For now?" Jaune asked, brow crinkling. "What does that mean?" The shadow didn't move for a good few seconds, before it turned, the depthless eyes staring straight through Jaune.

"It means that she doesn't have much longer to live, really." The shadow murmured, a long finger tapping Blake's forehead. Jaune was quick to bat its hand away, but found nothing but air as the thing retracted its limb faster than the alchemist was able to process.

"Why? Why doesn't she have long to live?" Jaune asked, looking carefully at the girl. Blake looked fine. She was a little pale, but she had all of her body parts, she wasn't bleeding from anywhere, and while her breathing was a little shallow, it was still there. "She looks fine to me." Jaune said adamantly, glaring at the shadow hovering in front of him.

"Because you're in denial." For something so ethereal, it projected emotions quite clearly, Jaune feeling the disdain that it carried in its voice. "You look at her and think she's fine because she looks fine. For someone so rooted in logical thinking and science, you don't use it all that much when you need to, do you?" Again the thing tapped Blake, Jaune not stopping him this time, instead taking that time to watch Blake wince, a shuddering breath escaping her. "Think about it for a second. Do you _think_ she's fine?"

Jaune kneeled there, mind whirring, chaos reigning. What had happened moments before? Cinder decided to try and stop them from disrupting the circle by... disrupting it herself. In a much more violent way. He remembered the circle glowing, and not thinking about much but saving Blake and himself. He wrapped the both of them in ballistic gel but...

An explosion like that wasn't going to be stopped with a layer of gel, no matter how thick it was.

Suddenly Jaune's sight of Blake changed. He could see the numerous bruises sported around her body. The unnatural angle that she seemed to be resting. How every breath she released was pained.

"Internal problems," Jaune whispered to himself, drawing back as the dhadow threw up its arms, releasing a sigh.

"Finally he gets it." The thing said, shaking its head.

Jaune ignored the creature standing beside him, gingerly touching Blake, trying to figure out how to fix the girl. The boy stopped what he was doing pretty quickly when he realized that he was only hurting her every time he touched her.

"She doesn't look all that far off." The shadow craned its neck to look past Jaune, stroking its chin. "From death, that is." Its callous remarks were starting to get on Jaune's nerve, which was shown when the blond whirled around to face the creature, snarling at it.

"What are you doing here?" Jaune bit out, hands closed into fists. "What do you want? To poke at the fact that someone's dying? Well congratulations," Jaune rolled his eyes, throwing his hands outwards. "You've succeeded. Happy?"

"Happy?" The creature tilted its head, thinking seriously about the question. "That's a question that is hard to answer. Happy can mean a lot of things. Contentment. The feeling of joy. A state of being that is better than sadness." The shadow looked at its hands in a certain curious wonder. "I can't be sure I'm feeling what I've described, or what I haven't. It's hard for me to understand it sometimes."

"You're not making any sense." Jaune shook his head, taking a step forwards, only to find the creature behind him, taller, more exaggerated than before.

"Maybe not. But maybe I was never meant to be understood from the beginning." The shadow paused speaking, looking at Blake's still form. Before Jaune could breathe out, the creature was on top of Blake, its claws wrapped around her neck.

"No!" Jaune yelled, diving at the thing, trying to knock it aside. All he found was thing air though, as he slipped past, the form dissipating and reforming, still on top of the faunus. Jaune's teeth clattered around his skull as his head hit the ground, sending waves of pain through him.

"A valiant attempt. A vain one, but a valiant one nonetheless." The creature didn't even turn around, continuing to squeeze the life out of Blake.

"Stop," Jaune gasped out, shakily getting back on his knees. "Please, stop."

"Stop?" The shadow turned around completely, standing up off of Blake. "I can't stop it Jaune. After all, I'm not the one killing her."

Jaune found himself engulfed in shadows for a second, before vision was returned to him. And he found himself on top of Blake, his hands wrapped around her throat. Jaune looked on in horror as he saw his hands start to squeeze, The girl thrashing weakly against his grip.

"You are."

Blake stopped moving, stopped breathing, stopped doing... anything, Jaune muttering to himself all the while, panic continuing to pound through his chest.

"No no no no no no," Jaune didn't have enough concentration to say anything else, only focusing on trying to pry his own hands off of her neck. His head was pounding, his heart was going into overdrive... Jaune turned to look at the shadow, fury written across his face. "STOP THIS!" The boy howled, anger tearing his throat apart. The being that stood in front of him didn't move, only watching him panic.

"I cannot stop this." The thing said calmly, looking at Jaune struggling. "Only you can."

"How do I—how do I do that?" Jaune gasped, sweat obscuring his vision as it dripped down his forehead. He was focused on keeping his own fingers at bay, but could still feel the creeping of darkness wrapping around him when the shadow enveloped him, engulfing him, freezing him.

"The way you've always done things, Jaune." The creature whispered, a razor sharp grin on its face.

"Sacrifice."

Jaune squeezed his eyes shut, the word echoing in his mind.

"What kind of sacrifice?"

Fingers caressed him, sin filling him. "What are you willing to offer?" Jaune's concentration slipped momentarily, fingers tightening around Blake's neck again, causing her to gape like a fish out of water.

"Anything." Jaune whispered, head falling. "Just save her. Please."

There was a resounding echo in the white space, Jaune opening his eyes to find himself standing a distance away from Blake, who was facing him as well. The cat faunus smiled at Jaune.

"Then we have an agreement." Blake said calmly, nodding. "Thank you."

"Thank—?" Jaune started, before something punched him in the chest, knocking him clean out.


End file.
